


The Long Way Home

by butterfingers



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-04
Updated: 2017-11-29
Packaged: 2018-05-31 03:16:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 48
Words: 220,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6453217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butterfingers/pseuds/butterfingers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Six months after Starkiller Base. The First order is experiencing difficulties with arms supply from the Dastron system. With nearby resistance activity Snoke sends Kylo Ren and General Hux to investigate and quell any possible uprisings. Rey has spent most of her time in training with Luke Skywalker on a new planet called Pal Charin and now Finn and others have dropped by for a visit on their way to the new Resistance base. Captain Phasma has tracked Finn to a nearby world. Her intention is to fly in, arrest Finn and get back to the First order fleet before they leave for the Dastron system.</p>
<p>Some things just don't go to plan though. Rey finds herself thrown back into the grip of her enemy while Kylo Ren finds all he has worked to regain after his failure at Starkiller begin to crumble when faced with his one true weakness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Kylo Ren stood alone in the cold dark room beside the towering holo-image of Supreme Leader Snoke. The holo-images of General Hux flanked by Captain Phasma and Lieutenant Mitaka appeared in front of him. Kylo Ren remained hidden to all but Snoke. It was a measure of how much Kylo Ren had regained Snoke’s trust that he was allowed to participate in the holo-meeting, albeit not physically by his master’s side. 

“General Hux. The completion of the Dastron Forces does not appear to be on schedule,” Snoke said. His voice held an air of benign enquiry but Kylo Ren knew Snoke was furious. The hunt for Skywalker had come so close only to have his location slip through their fingers. Their retaliation against the Resistance had been swift and harsh over the past six months. The Resistance was on the run but even an army of the Frist Order’s size needed resupply. Their forces were not yet returned to full capacity after Starkiller Base. 

“I assure you Supreme Leader, the anomaly has been noted and we have made our own enquiries…”

Snoke’s lip twitched and a half raised forefinger pointed at Hux was his only indication of annoyance. Hux stopped mid-sentence on seeing it.

“The First Order is not a money pit for criminal organisations to feed off. You need to do more than make enquiries General.”

Hux straightened his back and his eyes narrowed. “There have been reports of Resistance activity near the Dastron System. Perhaps a show of force from the First Order is required. A reduced fleet here will see to the last of the Resistance in this sector now.”

Snoke nodded. “Agreed.” Kylo Ren waited for his master to continue. He had spent the last six-months in strict training. His body still bore the brunt of that training. Other scars had appeared in places less visible than the one left by the scavenger. His mind and body had been honed and hardened and any weaknesses rooted out and crushed. 

“My servant Kylo Ren will accompany you on this mission.” Kylo Ren had been expecting this and so he had moved forward closer to Hux’ holo-image, almost in the officer’s face. Kylo was taller than Hux and so when his image appeared to the others, Kylo Ren was satisfied to see the alarm in Hux’ face on seeing his masked visage staring down at him from such proximity. 

Hux recovered quickly and looked past Kylo up at Snoke.

“As you wish Supreme Leader.” Hux clicked his heels together and stood at attention. His image and those of his officers disappeared. Kylo Ren turned to Snoke and awaited instruction. Snoke was silent for a while. His voice was low and benevolent when he finally spoke.

“I look upon you with great hope Kylo Ren, but there is still the matter of Skywalker and now this scavenger.”

Kylo Ren remained unmoved by the reference to the Jedi and the young woman who was now likely to be his student.  
“They must be destroyed.”

Kylo Ren had forsaken his compassion but he had not forsaken his instinct. 

“The scavenger, she is tempted by the power of the dark side. I felt it in her.” 

Snoke waved a hand in dismissal. “She is of no interest to me.” 

Kylo Ren knew he would be a fool to push on this any further but the desire to teach her plucked at him. Snoke scowled down at him, knowing his thoughts as he always did. “She will not be your student. She will die beside Skywalker. Now go.”

Kylo Ren bowed his head and the image of Snoke disappeared. Alone in the dark room now he stood impassive and unmoving. He thought of the girl who had defied him and clenched his fist. Inside he felt the bitterness of his defeat and ensuing punishment. At first he let the feelings rage and then recede leaving his heart hardened. He pushed away the thought of the man whose life he’d taken only to find a pitiful gaping hole left inside instead of the strength he’d hoped for. He focussed his fury against those who had undermined him on that day. A Stormtrooper who had become a traitor, a pilot who had escaped and a girl who had rejected and scarred him. They would each pay, with their lives. His weakness would be no more. 

 

General Hux was sure Kylo Ren had seen his alarm for just a moment when he’d appeared in front of him in the holo-conference. Snoke’s dark servant always unnerved him. In spite of his relative youth, he still held the power to intimidate. The problem was that Kylo Ren had a pedigree in power that was as high as his own as it was different. Kylo Ren knew how the game was played, and how the rules could be broken with impunity. One thing Hux was sure of was the loyalty of his officers to him above Ren. He had been sure of the loyalty of his Stormtroopers too until one…

“Captain Phasma. We may have a lead on FN-2187.” 

A technician stood to attention at the rear of the main deck. He held a schematic out to the Captain. General Hux stopped as the Captain also stopped and took the proffered piece of equipment. Hux knew that the full database on Stormtroopers had taken a while to reconstruct after Starkiller. Much had been lost and not just military hardware but information as well. Locating the traitor had had to wait. 

The Captain perused the information and nodded and thanked the technician who retreated. She turned to Hux.

“Blood isotopes specific the FN-2187 were detected on the planet Corellia only 24 hours ago. Security footage identified a man fitting his description boarding a small freighter bound for the planet Umarin.”

General Hux allowed himself a hint of a smile. There was one thing he’d still like to fix after the Starkiller disaster. He looked at Phasma. He couldn’t see the expression on her face behind the chrome mask but he suspected it would give away as much as her current body language, feet comfortably apart but body tipped slightly forward, at ease but filled with latent tension. 

“And you would like permission to go after him.” 

“It is my duty to account for every one of my Stormtroopers under my command.”

General Hux nodded. Captain Phasma had been overpowered by some giant alien furball called a Wookie, while FN-2187 and Han Solo had forced Lieutenant Hadrel to take down the shields on Starkiller base. The lieutenant had been killed at the base and the Captain had only barely gotten out alive after being thrown into a garbage chute. He figured her desire to retrieve FN-2187 was more personal than professional. Hux had wondered at first if she had told him everything about what happened on Starkiller base but there had been no way of checking the facts after the planet exploded into a star. She had been an exemplary officer both before and after that incident and so he was inclined to believe her. 

“I would like to get my hands on the traitor as well,” General Hux said. He thought about the logistics. 

“I could take a shuttle to Umarin and arrest FN-2187 and then return before we rendezvous with Kylo Ren.”

General Hux grimaced. “At least you would be bringing a passenger on board I would be happy to see.” The Captain remained still. She would never think of questioning her superiors. 

“If you leave now I will have co-ordinates sent to you for our rendezvous with Kylo Ren. That will give you plenty of time to retrieve our deserter before we head to the Dastron system.”  
Captain Phasma remained still for a moment longer. 

“Is there anything else,” Hux said. 

“We recently confiscated the ship of a bounty hunter after he failed in returning his last mark. I think this ship would provide cover so as not to cause suspicion when we land on Umarin. I believe the element of surprise would be in favour of a quick resolution to this matter.”

No doubt Captain Phasma had already fitted out the ship with her own details Hux thought and was eager to take it for a spin. 

“Very well. If you’re not back before we leave be sure not to miss the pickup point.” The Captain saluted and stepped back before she turned and strode from the main deck with what seemed to Hux like a spring in her step.  
Hux turned back to his office. He would need to make sure Kylo Ren didn’t find out that they had FN-2187 back in custody. He didn’t need him messing with the traitor’s head before he was reconditioned. As far as Hux was concerned Kylo Ren was a problem he didn’t need.

 

Rey woke with a start. She sat up looking about in the dark. He was leaving. She wanted to call him back but when she opened her eyes he was already gone. 

“Rey.” The familiar voice from the other room of their shelter pulled her out of her thoughts.

“Luke.” 

“What did you see?” he called out in a gruff, sleep edged voice.

Rey squeezed her eyelids together trying to catch the images of the vision. 

“You must write it down,” Luke said. 

Rey ran a hand through her sleep mussed hair. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness around her. She could make out Luke’s shadow in the doorway of the tiny room she slept in. The shelter they inhabited provided small comforts but comfort wasn’t the aim. 

Rey closed her eyes again and let the vision flow. 

“It was my grandfather. He spoke to me.”

The lamp beside her bed began to glow. “You must write it down,” Luke insisted. Rey nodded. She looked about her for her datapad. She picked it up from the floor beside her bed where she’d left it from the night before looking over an X-wing schematic. 

There had been many things she’d seen in dreams since beginning her training and Luke always insisted she write them down. He’d insisted she write down what she’d seen that day in Maz’ castle so they could work on its meaning together. Sometimes she would hear her grandfather’s voice but often they were images and words she didn’t know the meaning of. They were for other times, for meditating on until the Force chose to reveal their meaning to her. 

The vision she’d just had seemed more immediate. And someone else had been there too.

“I also saw Kylo Ren.” There was a moment of silence.

“Hmmm,” Luke said. He retreated from her doorway. “Write down as much as you can remember. We will work on it in the morning.”

Rey rubbed at her eyes and focussed on the datapad. The vision had started when she thought she’d woken and walked out on the peninsula that stretched out into the lake of which their little shelter was built on the shores of. There her grandfather had spoken to her of things that were soon to happen.


	2. Chapter 2

Rey watched with anticipation as Finn stepped from the Millennium Falcon, a grin spreading across her face as he waved at her. He moved about with relative ease now, although she could see there was still a slight stiffness in his back. He had been given the medical clear to return to active front line duty now that his wound was fully healed. He had come with General Leia Organa and Chewie and BB-8 to see her and Master Luke. It was just a slight deviation from their course on their way to the new Resistance base. Poe Dameron had also tailed along on the excuse that the General needed some kind of protective detail and two ships wouldn’t raise any more red flags than one ship would. Rey wondered if the ace pilot was more interested in meeting his idol than protecting the General.

Rey hung back a little and let Master Luke hug his sister. Rey could feel the mix of joy and sadness that seemed to be their constant companions.

“I’m sorry we’re late. I wanted to stop at Corellia and visit Han’s memorial,” Leia said.

“That was dangerous Leia,” Luke chided but there was a gentle sadness in his face that said he wasn’t angry. Leia nodded.

“I wanted to leave him a lotoa lily. He always liked them.”

“He always brought them for you after an argument,” Luke said.

Leia looked sad. “It seems I’m the one bringing them to him now.”

Rey couldn’t help thinking of the rough, charming man who she’d taken an instant liking to. When he offered her a job was one of fondest memories. She felt silly now that she had turned it down. She felt a hint of tears behind her eyes and blinked them back. Just when his presence had started to take root in her life, like he’d always been there, he’d been ripped away. Many tears had already been shed for him by other’s who had greater claim to his memory than she, even Master Luke. So she hung back, forcing her mind to refocus on other things.

Here on Pal Charin Rey had learned so much in such a short time. But there was still so much she didn’t know and still had to learn. The past was something she had been hesitant to ask Luke about and she suspected he had told her only that which he felt she needed to know. She could see the pain in his eyes when they strayed onto topics relating to the past and she usually backed away from pushing for more details. The one question she still had no answer to was what happened to her family. She knew who they were but not where they’d gone or why they didn’t come back. Luke couldn’t tell her that. She reminded herself to be patient and focus on the present.

Finn skirted respectfully around Luke and Leia and made a beeline for her.

“Rey. Have I been looking forward to seeing you,” Finn crowed. She came forward when he reached the edge of the dock and she was pulled into a hug that might have crushed her if she’d been made of less stern stuff. Finn stepped back, holding her at arm’s length, and looked at her in a sideways manner, a grin on his face. Rey wasn’t sure what he was going to say but she knew it would probably make her laugh.  

“So, are you a Jedi yet?”

Rey laughed. “No. I’m a Padawan.” When she saw his quizzical look she laughed again.

“It means I’m an official trainee of a Jedi master.” Finn formed an O with his mouth and nodded.

“So when do you become a Jedi master,” Finn said, his grin back. Rey shook her head, still laughing.

“I have to become a Jedi knight first.”

“Ah, ha. That sounds more like you.” Finn looked up as though he were reading the glowing sign above a Coruscant opera house and made an expansive gesture. “Rey Kenobi, Jedi knight.”

Rey grinned and looked down. Finn reached out and took her hand, looking down at her. “I’m so glad you’re here with Luke and that you’ve found some of that family you were looking for.”

Rey’s grin faded a little and she nodded. “I really do feel like I belong here with Luke and R2-D2 but I miss you and Leia, Chewie, and BB-8 too.” She watched the others for a moment and then looked back up at him. “It’s really good to see you Finn.” She didn’t want to refer to the injury to his back or how it got there, or by whom. She wanted to focus on good things.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t come back but Luke felt my training was too important.”

Finn’s face turned gentle. “I know,” he said and put his arm around her shoulder. Rey leaned into him and let him hold her, his warmth familiar and solid. They had only known each other for a short time and most of that had been through encrypted communications via Resistance channels.

“Hey. Where’s my hug,” Poe said behind them. Finn turned without letting go of Rey. “Eh, this is my moment thanks,” he said. Rey laughed and gently pushed against Finn’s chest. He huffed and let her go. Poe gave her an exuberant hug nearly enough to knock the breath out of her. She laughed and whacked him on the back. He let her go and looked about.

“Well, the weather is better than it was last time. We might even be able to take a walk out to the peninsula,” Poe said. Rey looked out over the dry world they were now on. Pal Charin wasn’t the ocean covered world of Ahch-to but it wasn’t the dessert of Jakku either. Its semi-arid climate still provided some green and some bodies of water. Ahch-to had been in a remote and largely forgotten area of the rim but Pal Charin was closer in, though still far from even low traffic routes through the galaxy.

R2-D2 whistled and beeped. “I’m sorry R2,” Leia said. “I had to send 3PO on ahead. They needed him to read some of the new analytic units we’ve been able to get a hold of.”

R2 sighed but BB-8 whistled and whizzed around the blue and white droid. R2 made a rude sound and BB-8 stopped, head tilted sideways in puzzlement, like a young pup wondering why he’d been rebuked by one older and wiser.

“You’ve been able to get hold of new equipment,” Luke enquired. Leia nodded, her business face emerging once again.

“We have some new benefactors. We’ve lost a few for fear of the First Order but we’ve gained a few in defiance of it as well.” Leia began to update Luke on recent events.

Rey tried to listen for a little but New Republic politics left her head spinning. There were so many people and places and changing alliances. That was Leia and Poe’s domain.

Chewie let out a moan and grunt and waved a huge hairy hand for them to come. Rey liked seeing the huge Wookie and had enjoyed her time flying with him and so it seemed right that he was here again. Rey turned and headed for him. His hug was like being engulfed in a shaggy wall. She could see Luke and Leia had begun to speak in earnest tones now about stuff to do with the Resistance and the war with the First Order.

“I think that walk out to the peninsular would be a great idea,” Rey said. “There’s a little spring out there with amazingly clear water too.” The others nodded. Finn slid an arm through hers.

“Shall we go together?” he said.

Rey grinned and shook her head. “Do I have a choice.”

Finn grinned back. “Sorry, not letting you go just yet. It’s been a while. I might need to just make sure it’s really you here beside me.” Rey laughed. Still the same old Finn. They walked out on the rocky outcrop that overlooked the vast mudflats that preceded the half-full lake waiting thirstily for the late spring rains. There was a flock of white waders a long way out. Several winged creatures swooped in trying to separate the old and infirm, looking for prey. Clouds built up far out past the horizon and along the path they took there was low, silvery, hardened vegetation growing among the yellow and brown stones. It was a harsh but beautiful place. Rey especially liked it at night, when the stars came out like dust and the moons shone across the sky. She could stare at it for hours as she and Luke sat outside the old stone shelter they inhabited.

Chewie slowed his pace, looked up and growled. Rey felt a creeping unease in her gut. Poe and Finn kept talking but when Chewie kept looking up Rey knew there was something to it. She stopped and stared up at the sky. Poe and Finn were also looking up now.

“What is it,” Finn said. Chewie lifted a huge paw and pointed half way above the horizon. A light freighter not much bigger than the Falcon, dark and non-descript, streaked across the sky leaving a white trail in the upper atmosphere. They watched it for a while as it followed the horizon and then dropped out of sight. Rey felt the hair on the back of her neck begin to rise. This is where her vision from the night before had begun, when her grandfather had pointed out over the lake towards the horizon as though something was coming. Something that would change everything.

“It didn’t look like the First Order,” Poe said.

“They may have First Oder sympathies,” Finn said. Rey looked at Chewie and he growled his disapproval of the event.

“Let’s head back. The sensors back at the shelter may have picked it up,” Poe said. They turned back from the peninsula and made good speed back to where Leia and Luke stood, concerned looks on their faces.

“Did we get a reading on that ship,” Rey said.

“It seems to be a civilian type craft,” Leia said.

“The kind a bounty hunter might use,” Luke said, his gaze flicking to Finn.

“Do you think a bounty hunter is after Finn,” Rey said, stepping closer to her friend ready to protect him from whatever was coming. Finn had been there at the beginning of her vision from two nights ago but then he’d disappeared. It had seemed fine, as if there was nothing to worry about when she’d written it all down but now she wondered if she’d missed something.

“Bounty hunters would get a pay day out of each one of us from the First Order,” Leia said. They all looked at each other, expressions grim.

BB-8 made a beep and R2-D2 whistled in reply. Chewie barked and pointed again. The ship was back above the horizon and had banked in another direction.

“Should we leave,” Finn said.

Luke closed his eyes for a moment. “Whoever they are they’re looking for us.”

Rey felt something tense inside her that had taken a lot to relax since she had begun her training. She had grown, found a measure of peace with her previous existence and had felt like she might actually have a kind of life here. Now it was starting again.

Before they could make any kind of decision on leaving, the ship banked up into the atmosphere and disappeared. No-one said anything at first then they all began to relax.

“Do you think it’s gone,” Finn said.

Luke shook his head. “No. It’s waiting.” The tension that had begun to ebb away inside Rey came back but this time it was deeper, reminding her that once again she might end up alone. She thought of the vision and reminded herself of her grandfather’s promise. _I will be there when you need me._

She took a breath. She refused to think she would end up alone again.


	3. Chapter 3

Rey was bothered by how quickly she was able to pack. For all that she felt like she belonged, her roots didn’t go deep enough that she could not be quickly plucked from one location to the next and moved on. She looked at the busy people about her. She smiled; they were all moving on as quickly as she. Maybe that’s what made them a sort of family, not a location but the ability to stay together no-matter what came their way.

Finn was helping stack the meagre stash of equipment they would need in the Falcon. The remainder would be left for the next inhabitant, or maybe if they chose to return one day. Poe was making some last checks on his X-Wing. Luke looked at it for a moment, a hint of a smile on his face, no doubt thinking of times gone by. There would be another waiting for him at the new resistance base if he wanted it. There would be one waiting for her as well. The thought of combat both excited and troubled her. Would she be the help they all hoped?

She clipped her lightsabre to her belt and stuffed the last of Luke’s citral cakes in her satchel. Rey knew she should no longer be surprised by his many talents, he was a Jedi master, but his citral cakes were still a surprise. She walked outside and looked back at the shelter. The days and nights of training all seemed like a blur now. Running along the lake’s edge. Treks out into the mud, dragging some kind of heavy weight behind her. Using the Force to drag heavy weights out of the mud. Training with the lightsabre. Training without the lightsabre. Learning how to use the Force and why. It wasn’t just about power. It was about understanding. The Force wasn’t just there for her, she was also there for the Force. The Jedi didn’t force her own agenda but allowed the Force to guide her. At first she was impatient but Luke met that with patience. Now she knew that Luke was taking his time with her, doing things differently.

She remembered that first awkward day when he tried to convince her she didn’t want to know about the force and was better off returning with Chewie and R2 to help with the resistance. It had taken a lot of determination on her part to convince him she would be his student. She’d told him she could wait, she knew how to do that better than most. In the end Rey suspected he’d taken pity on her when she’d taken out the training ball from the Falcon and had spent an afternoon getting zapped while she tried to use the lightsabre to defend herself from it.

Rey looked down at the sparse vegetation among the stones beneath her feet and prodded some of the grassy tufts with her boot. Any further training she received would now be done ‘on the job’. Luke had agreed to come to the new base and do what he could to help the Resistance and to fight Snoke and the First Order but Rey knew his other aim would be to look for potential new Jedi trainees.

Chewie was doing some last minute fixes on the Falcon and checking its gunnery. No doubt they would need it getting out of here. Leia was talking to Luke and as often happened her voice grew louder when she tried to get her point across.

“All I’m saying Luke is that we should travel separately. If I’m taken at least you could take my place.”

“Leia, you know as well as I do that is not my path. There are others capable of stepping into your place,” he said, looking at Poe.

Rey felt a little shiver of trepidation. It was only one ship out there waiting for them but you never knew. She caught Luke’s eye. Probably a good idea not to be overconfident. Luke turned and looked out over the old lake. Rey felt it then. Something or someone was coming. Rey let herself reach out in the force. No doubt they had been dropped off by the smugglers ship earlier and approached under cover. Rey secured her satchel and unclipped her lightsabre, just what they needed. A surprise attack. Rey jogged over to join Luke.

“Chewie, get the General into the Falcon,” Luke called out. Poe looked up and out over the lake. He stuffed his tools into a compartment in the X-Wing and pulled out his blaster. BB-8 rolled in under the X-wing, ready to be loaded. Chewie growled and stood. He slammed the hatch shut he’d been working in and pulled his bowcaster from over his shoulder. Leia headed for the Falcon, stopping to peer out from behind the huge hirsute biped at the last moment before she jogged up the ramp followed by R2.

Rey and Luke stood ready, watching. Rey centred her feelings and tried to get a read on what was out there. Poe waited beside his X-Wing. Something wasn’t right.

“Where’s Finn,” Rey said. Fright and dread knocked her senses into chaos. He was just back on duty. She spun, scanning her surrounds for her friend. A flash of something, sunlight off steel, polished steel. She focussed all her senses. Fear, pain and fury. Finn was being dragged away. Then his emotions just seemed to slide away like he’d passed out.

“Finn,” she screamed. Without hesitation she ran towards her friend. A laser bolt whizzed past her ear. She could hear and feel Luke behind her, lightsabre twisting and flicking, catching several more bolts from whatever had been approaching across the lake. No doubt it had been a diversion. She heard Poe power up the X-Wing. She didn’t look back. She had to get to Finn before they took him.

She could see them now. It was the First Order. She’d seen that chrome trooper with the black cape before. She was the one trooper Finn was most afraid of. Rey focussed all her energy on getting to Finn.

_Behind you._

Rey obeyed her master’s command without hesitation. She shifted her weight to her front foot, crouched down as she spun around, one leg under her, the other extended as she brought her sabre up and ducked her head. She scoured through the underside of the speeder as it went over the top of her. It flung off into the dirt and stones, a flaming wreck, its trooper hitting hard into the rocks. Rey flicked back over onto her feet and kept running.

Too late. The ship was back, hovering above. Phasma had an unconscious Finn locked in one arm and the other extended upwards, a grapple hook already shooting up to the waiting ship. Even as Rey reached the spot, Phasma was already ascending, taking Finn with her towards an open hatch. Rey used the force to jump. Her hand gripped the bottom of Phasma’s boot and she went up with them. Phasma kicked Rey’s hand, blooding her knuckles. Rey refused to let go, glaring up at Phasma. With her lightsabre in her hand she swung it up, aiming for Phasma’s free leg.

The lightsabre bounced off. Rey nearly lost her grip. The sabre should have gone straight through the steel trooper’s leg. That wasn’t some normal alloy. Its polished surface wasn’t just a device for vanity.

Phasma kicked Rey’s hand again and her fingers began to slide. Finn and Phasma disappeared into the waiting hatch as she dug her fingers in and tried to haul her body up. Rey’s fingers slid away from the trooper’s boot and she began to fall as the hatch closed. In one desperate grasp she reached and found something. The handle of the external latch. She held on tight as the ship began to power up, the wind beginning to rush past her.

Rey looked down. Too far to fall. She looked up. If she went up with the ship, she would soon be in space on the wrong side of fuselage. She looked around. Poe’s X-wing was off the ground and chasing them. The ship lurched as it took evasive action. A hatch opened up the side of the ship and a gunnery turret extended from it. Rey found a foot hold and began climbing towards it, digging her fingers into the ridges on the side. The exposed parts of her body, especially her fingers were growing cold from the rushing wind. A blast from the laser nearly deafened her as the pilot tried to shake the pursuing X-wing. She was going to have to deal with that if she was going to get in there. The laser spun away from her to follow the X-wing. Poe let off a shot trying to disable the ship. Rey nearly lost her hold and said something unsavoury at him. She hauled herself onto the gunnery and used her lightsabre to cut through the extension arm that allowed the cannon to extend out past the fuselage. It fell away and she crawled into the space left behind. She wouldn’t let the First Order take Finn back.

The wind fell away inside the gunnery hatch and she felt a lot less exposed. The last thing she needed was to be hit by Poe’s blaster fire. The inside of the gunnery hatch was a tight fit but she was able to get around the remaining hardware and find an access panel. Of course it didn’t open from her side and so she had to push it in, being careful not to cause any noise. The panel took some shoving but it eventually gave way and she lowered it to the floor. There was no-one in the immediate vicinity and so she pulled herself inside what appeared to be an access crawl space.

A voice came to her ears.

“She was down there. The General was down there. Surely we need to try and get her too.”

“No. We don’t have the fire power against both ships and we’re nearly out of time. We have to leave.” A clipped feminine voice was closer than the other two. Phasma.

“We came for FN-2187. If no-one opens their mouth then it won’t matter,” she said. “How long before we can go to hyperspace.”

“We’re almost clear of the atmosphere. Calculating now Captain.”

Rey looked about. She was below a mesh floor. Footsteps moved away. She pushed up a mesh pane and looked about. Finn was lying unconscious on the floor, blood dripping from a cut on his head. She had to stop this ship from leaving and she had to move fast. She looked around the corner and saw Phasma was accompanied by three more Stormtroopers as well as a flight crew of two.

“Thirty seconds to hyperspace Captain.”

Rey didn’t have time to disable that many Stormtroopers and crew before hyperspace. Her vision came to mind and her grandfather’s words.

_The long way home will be the hardest but you will gain more by it than if you don’t go. But you must take this path alone._

Rey closed her eyes. There was one thing she could do. She opened her eyes and looked around. There. One corridor back, she could see the edge of one there. Escape pods. She climbed out of the floor well, being careful to be quiet. She scooted over to Finn and scooped her hands under his shoulders, pulling him behind her as she made her way over to the pods. She hauled him up against the door so he would roll in as it opened and hit the pod’s activation button. His legs got stuck and so she used a small force push to get him all the way in. There was only room for one person in the pod but she’d known this anyway. She slammed it shut and hit the eject button. There was a thump as the pod ejected from the ship.  

“Going to hyperspace now Captain.”

“Wait,” Phasma yelled.

The ship lurched as the hyperdrive engaged. Rey looked up. Phasma stood in the walkway, her blaster trained on Rey. Under that silver mask, Rey suspected there was a very angry woman. Rey lit up her lightsabre. No point in making this easy.

Phasma’s blaster lit up and Rey caught the bolt with her lightsabre. She could feel the displacement in the force as another raced towards her from behind. She spun and knocked it into the wall, causing damage.

“Hold your fire,”Phasma yelled. Rey moved so her back was to the wall. They stared at each other for a moment.

It was the little droid that Rey didn’t count on. Similar to BB-8 she didn’t take much notice, assuming it was non-lethal as well. Captain Phasma stalking towards her was the one who got her attention. Rey lifted her lightsabre and rested the tip against Phasma’s armour when she got in range. Phasma didn’t flinch, just stood her ground.

“You just cost me a lot of time and effort,” Phasma spat. “We’ve tracked him across four different planets.”

“Too bad. You don’t get Finn back,” Rey snapped. Phasma pushed against the lightsabre, towering over Rey. Rey pushed against Phasma, refusing to be intimidated. The lightsabre crackled and hissed against Phasma’s armour. If it was a competition on who could out tough the other then Rey wasn’t going to be the one to give in.

A sharp pain bloomed in Rey’s leg and she looked down. The droid was retracting its arm, leaving behind a little red fibre tailed cylinder in her calf muscle. A dart.

Phasma chuckled. “Well now I have you. Kylo Ren will be pleased,” she gloated. Rey felt the world shift beneath her feet. She gathered the force to fight the drug rushing through her veins. Her vision grew foggy. She whispered two words.

“Help Me!”

She heard her grandfather’s voice.

_I’m here._

The corridor about her pitched sideways. Her lightsabre dropped from her hand, its blade retracting, and rolled off the side. In an odd moment of bizarre focus Rey saw the discoloured dent her lightsabre had made in Phasma’s armour. So it wasn’t completely lightsabre proof. Her mind shifted. Rey wondered whether she would wake again with Kylo Ren watching her.

The floor rushed up to meet her. Pain exploded down her side as she hit the metal grating.

_You can resist this._

Rey wasn’t sure what that meant but she hoped it was the drug because she was going to do everything she could not to let it knock her out. She refused to be helpless, waking up in some evil torture chair again while he…

Rey focussed her mind. Her body was immobilised but if she worked hard her mind would stay aware. She let her breathing flow and concentrated on what was going on around her and not what was going on in her head.

“Should we go back Captain?”

“No. We’re out of time.”

“Kylo Ren will want to know about the others.”

“Yes.” Silence for a moment. “I will tell him.” There was a note of resignation in her voice.

Rey had mixed feelings about the man she’d cut down the last time they met. She hated him for what he’d done to her, to Finn and most of all for what he’d done to his own father.

_Rey_

She pushed her thoughts away and refocussed on her surrounds. The moment she let her thoughts wander she would slip into unconsciousness. She focussed on the engine, its thrum. The sound of the ship as it slid through hyperspace. She reached out with the force to try and decipher its configuration.

Too much. Her mind began to grow dark. She refocussed on just her immediate physical surrounds and what she could hear. Storm troopers moving about, muttering to each other. The stealthy sound of something small and of animal kind below decks. The occasional spark in the gunnery turret where she’d cut away the blaster cannon to give herself room to get inside. That was probably the best way to get back out again when they landed wherever they were going – if she was in a fit condition to escape.

There was the sound of boots on the walkway. Someone picked up her lightsabre. Phasma. She looked at it for a while. Rey knew she was tempted to light it up but for some reason the woman held a fear of it, as though it would turn to pure evil in her hand and cut her down. She moved away and put the lightsabre in a storage compartment behind the passenger seats.

Phasma came back and knelt down beside her. She reached out a plated, gloved hand and shook her shoulder. Rey let out an involuntary groan. This seemed to satisfy her.

“I know he thinks of you,” she said in a quiet voice. “You cut him up bad little girl.” She watched Rey for a moment. “He’s not the forgiving kind.”

Really, well neither was she. If she had the chance she’d do it again. No! That was the way to the dark side.

“I wonder if I should bring you in dead or alive.” Rey felt involuntary fear in her mind flare and she concentrated on pulling it back. Staying awake seemed like a good idea to start with but if Phasma was going to blast a hole in her then Rey would have preferred to be unconscious and know nothing about it.

“I was going to have FN-2187 have an accident before he could tell anyone what really happened on Starkiller.” Phasma sighed. “He was going to try to escape via the trash compactor but unlike me he wouldn’t have a master code to unlock the emergency exit.” Rey felt her anger flare again.  

“I wonder what sort of accident you might have.” One that involved taking Phasma down with her if Rey had anything to say about it.

“No.” Phasma murmured. “I better bring you in alive. No point in making him angry.” Phasma huffed and stood up, moving away. Rey did her best to control her breathing as her heart slowed. She took in a deep breath, held it and let it out.

She was moving. Rey felt her hand twitch. The drug was wearing off or maybe it was the Force. Whatever it was her body was slowly coming back under her control.


	4. Chapter 4

Poe saw the escape pod break free from the freighter just before it went into hyperspace. For a heart stopping moment he thought he might crash into it before he flicked around it. He followed it down as it re-entered the atmosphere and fell towards the planet. The parachutes opened and its descent slowed. It was going to land miles from where the others were so he put his nose through the parachute and carried it back down to the makeshift dock where the Falcon sat.

He watched as the others ran towards the pod as he set down. He unclipped his flight suit and pushed up the cabin of the X-wing. Chewie already had the pod open when he got out.

Finn was inside. Poe felt a wave of relief for his friend but a storm of worry for Rey. She was still on that ship. He sat back as he watched Luke reach in and place a hand on Finn’s forehead. It was just a moment before his friend opened his eyes, sat up and looked around.

“Phasma,” Finn croaked.

“It’s ok, she’s gone,” Leia said. Finn relaxed but then began looking around.

“Where’s Rey.” No one said anything and Finn looked up at the sky.

“They got Rey didn’t they?”

Poe ran a hand through his hair and looked up in the direction where Phasma and her ship had disappeared with Rey on board. Damn that girl. Even after only a few brief meetings he was hooked. Poe never could figure out why his heart got tangled up with the unattainable. She was Finn’s girl, or at least would be now she was going to be around more.

They were all supposed to go to the Mor Adane system where the new base was, where he would be teaching her to fly the X-wings. Where his heart could ache and pine for her while she drove him nuts with her uncomplicated affection that would always be nothing more than what she might feel for a brother.

Now she was gone again.

“What is it,” Leia said, looking at Luke.

“She had a vision two nights ago. She saw two paths but one would lead to the dark side. Obi Wan warned her that the Force is at work and she must be willing to be guided by it.”

Poe felt a dread in the pit of his stomach. Rey was very much about doing things her way. She was a survivor and to be honest, that was one of the things he liked about her, but he’d over heard a few comments from both Leia and Finn about how strong willed she was and how Luke was uncertain about whether he could successfully guide her. There was an uncomfortable silence for a while as they contemplated the possibility of Rey being claimed by the dark side.

At least that’s what Poe had been thinking but not everyone it seemed. 

“I know now where I’ve seen that ship before,” Leia cried. “It was on Corellia during Han’s funeral. It belonged to Hadrin Jaeks. Hopeless bounty hunter but he always seemed to have cash. Sort of guy Han liked. I bet that ship would have a tracker somewhere the First Order wouldn’t have been able to find.” Leia began to pace, then turned to Luke.

“He had a partner, a blue Twi’lek, Imri Hallomy. She’s missing the end of a left head tail. She’d have the code and the equipment to track it.”

Something clicked in Poe’s memory. He’d heard that name before.

“Wasn’t she involved in the Skathian arms scam a while back? If memory serves me right she’d still be in prison at Skath Holding.”

“If we’ve any hope of tracking Rey that’s where we need to start,” Leia said.

“Wait, what about the vision. Did she say anything about what we should do,” Finn said.

“No,” Luke said. “There’s nothing to say we shouldn’t go after her.”

Poe breathed in and out. Maybe Rey wasn’t gone yet. “If we break this Imri Hallomy out, do you think she’d help us?”

“I doubt she’d help us if we didn’t break her out,” Leia said.

“Do you think she has First Order sympathies,” Finn said.

“People like her don’t have sympathies Finn,” Leia said. “They have interests, vested interests. I’d say if we broke her out and gave her the opportunity to get her ship back that would be interest enough.”

“We’re seriously going to break a criminal out of jail,” Finn said. They all looked at each other.

Chewie huffed and yodelled. Finn looked up at Poe, his brow wrinkling. He was still having trouble understanding Wookie.

Poe shook his head. “He wanted to know if you’ve got a better idea.”

 

 

Rey needed to get her lightsabre back. Failing that, something to use as a staff would also be good. She surreptitiously moved her body about until she was sure that she would be able to move the moment she needed to.

“We’ll be coming out of hyperspace in twenty seconds Captain.”

Everyone found a seat but they left Rey where she was on the floor. No doubt they thought she wouldn’t be going anywhere and weren’t particularly concerned for her comfort. Rey focussed on the compartment behind the seats where the lightsabre was stashed. She breathed in and reached out. She needed to do this in a controlled manner. If it came flying out of the compartment someone was sure to notice. She breathed in and tried to lift the lid. Locked. She concentrated hard and found the simple mechanism that held it in place. A little push. The lid flipped up. Rey held her breath.

The ship lurched and slowed. Up front the blur of hyperspace changed to the pinpoints of stars. The lid fell back down. A Stormtrooper turned its head. Rey lay quiet.

“Get General Hux on screen,” Phasma said. Rey knew she didn’t have much time. She lifted the lid again and pulled with the force, imagining the lightsabre smoothly levitating out of the compartment and coming to her.

The screen above the pilot flickered and a pale face with red hair appeared just as the lightsabre sprang out of the compartment and flew to Rey’s hand. Rey held her breath, hoping General Hux hadn’t seen what was going on behind Phasma from his vantage point.

“Report.” His clipped voice held no indication he had seen anything other than Phasma. Rey slipped the lightsabre under her jacket and clipped it to her belt.

“Sir, has Kylo Ren arrived yet.”

“He’s waiting on his Command Shuttle. I’ve just received a message asking me what the hold-up is,” General Hux’ eyes narrowed and leaned forward. “Did you get the traitor?”

Phasma straightened. “No but we have picked up someone else Kylo Ren will be happy to see.” Phasma stood to the side and General Hux peered out from the screen.

“Well, well. This is a surprise. I will send a communique to Ren,” Hux crowed.

“She is currently tranquilised sir. I expect it will wear off soon. I would like to get her into a cell as soon as possible.”

“Very good. Report directly to me afterwards,” General Hux said. Phasma saluted and the screen went dark. 

“Beginning docking procedures Captain. Please take a seat.”

The moment all eyes were fixed on their landing Rey rolled over and pushed up onto her hands and knees. She quickly scooted around the corner and found the grill where she could get back down into the access tunnel.

The ship bumped as it landed. Rey needed to be gone. The floor grating wouldn’t be too hard to lift with a push from the force.

A heavy boot stomped on the grating.

“Oh no you don’t,” Phasma snarled.

Rey crouched, assessing her options. Fight her way out, maybe steal this ship or another ship. More than likely she would die trying to fight her way out. If she did get away in a ship they would just tractor her back in. She looked down. An idea formed in her mind. She closed her eyes and drew on the force.

Rey hooked her hands into the grating Phasma stood on and stepped back onto the next piece of grating. Using the force she pulled up one side of the grating and Phasma with it. Phasma yelled as she toppled backwards. Rey quickly pulled her hands out and ducked in under the grating slipping down into the access way from which she came. The hatch leading to the gunnery space was still open and she dragged herself into it. The external gunnery hatch was shut but a swipe with her lightsabre fixed that.

She could hear Phasma yelling behind her but kept going. She slipped down into the dock under the smugglers ship and looked about. She was going to have to make a run for it. The way with the least amount of Stormtroopers and the most equipment that could be used for cover was towards the heart of the destroyer. If First Order destroyers were anything like old Imperial destroyers then all she needed to do was find some kind of service hatch where she could crawl around the bowels of this ship for hours before they found her. That might give her time to figure out a way off it and back ... she wasn’t sure where home was now. Being a closely guarded secret she hadn’t actually caught the name of the place where the new base was. She just assumed she would go there with the others and find out when she got there.

Rey shook her head. She had to go. The first stack of crates was only a few meters away. She ran to it and scooted behind them. There was a Stormtrooper between her and the next item of cover, a stack of steel pallets. His back was to her for now but in a moment he would turn and see her. She looked at one of the crates and lifted a lid. There was some kind of nasty looking cannon inside but there was also a lot of space as well.

She was about to climb in when there was a shout from the direction she’d just come. The storm trooper spun and saw her. He stalked towards her, aiming his blaster. Rey leapt, her lightsabre igniting. She caught a blaster bolt with the sabre and ricocheted it into the crate with the cannon. It caught on fire. She ducked another blast from the storm trooper, crouched with her leg out and spun, hitting him in the back of the knee with her foot. He stumbled but kept coming for her. She brought her lightsabre up and cut his blaster in two. She kicked out again and sent him sprawling across the floor.

Rey decided there wasn’t much point in trying to hide now so she made a run for the least populated area of the dock. She felt a bolt come up behind her and spun around to catch it with her lightsabre. It spun off and hit a wall making a beacon for anyone chasing her. So much for a stealthy escape.

Rey saw a door way and ran for it. She Force slammed it open, leapt through and locked it behind her. She was in a room full of consoles and screens being overseen by a droid and what looked like a low ranking officer. The droid stood and stared. The officer pulled out a hand blaster and started shooting. Rey deflected the bolts and they began hitting equipment. The droid shrieked and the officer stopped shooting, uncertain what to do. Rey took the advantage, charged and knocked the blaster out of the officer’s hand with a kick. He yelped, raised his hands and stood back. Rey held the lightsabre close to his face.

“Bring up the ship schematics,” she said. The officer was too frightened to answer. The droid stepped forward and spoke in a mechanical voice.

“You are not authorised to access that information. I will be reporting you to the sector head.” The droid extended a mechanical arm towards her. “You must remain here until a higher authority is present and…”

Rey swung her lightsabre and the droids hand dropped to the ground. The droid looked down and back up at her. If a droid could look angry it did.

“You will now be arrested for wilful destruction of property…”

The voice was cut off with a half shriek and the droid’s head dropped to the ground, the smoking metal of its neck structure sparking against the wires that poked out. The body stood frozen in mid stride. Rey felt bad for the droid but it was going to cause trouble, besides it could be repaired.

Rey turned back to the officer and levelled her lightsabre under his nose.

“I need a schematic of the ship.” He swallowed and nodded.

There was a thump at the door. Another one rattled the hinges. She muttered a curse under her breath and looked around. There was another exit at the rear. She retracted her lightsabre.

“Your lucky day I guess,” she said to the officer. He nodded and relaxed. Rey bolted for the rear exit as another thump shook the door, rattling the lock. She was going to have to get into the workings of this ship somehow and disable that tractor beam. She found a service door and wrenched it open. It was a narrow access way and it lead up. She sighed. There was no lift. She peered up at the rungs disappearing into the dark. She was going to have to climb. She pulled the door shut behind her. At least she wasn’t in complete pitch black. There was a row of tiny lights that lit up the access way. She waited a moment for her eyes to adjust, took a breath and put a foot on the first rung.  


	5. Chapter 5

Kylo Ren could feel her. She was close. How was she here?

Ren had arrived a short time after the fleet and had expected to head straight for Dastron. Hux had noted there would be a short delay to their departure while some logistical matters were settled. Ren had been annoyed but figured Hux had his reasons. He’d spent time in meditation, seeking his grandfather’s presence but without success. Ren had risen and paced, annoyed by his failure to draw his grandfather’s presence. Darth Vader had been the most feared figure in the galaxy. For all that his uncle said that he had turned back to the light at the end, Ren knew his power had come from the dark side. Ren needed that power to overcome his own weaknesses.

To Ren’s disappointment, his grandfather’s visits were few and shadowy. Each time Ren had been given a feeling of great darkness and power. There were no words, but each visit left him more determined to carry out the vision of balance in the galaxy. According to Snoke his grandfather had sought to eradicate dissension and those who would deny the power of the dark side. Just as the First Order did, Darth Vader had sought to bring order and peace to the galaxy.

Ren paced towards the front of his Command Shuttle, looking out at the darkness of space. A ship screamed in out of hyperspace. The sort of thing a smuggler or bounty hunter would use. As it slowed the presence of someone he’d felt before brushed against him. His jaw clenched. His last few strides to the viewing deck of his shuttle were full of purpose. He watched in growing recognition as the ship headed for the Finalizer. It was not the configuration of the ship but the ethereal intensity of the presence on board that he recognised. She was on that ship. His weakness. A moment of fatalistic warning told him he was never going to be able to overcome this weakness. He ignored it. Whatever havoc she created, whatever infuriating things she said or did, didn’t mean he was going to abandon all his training. He was ready for her this time. He picked up his helmet and secured it in place.

A console lit up, indicating an incoming transmission from Hux. He flicked it on. Hux started straight in.

“Lord Ren, we have sorted our logistical mat...”

Kylo Ren cut him off.

“I know she’s here. I’m coming aboard.” Kylo Ren was about to flick off the transmission but Hux quickly made his case.

“The Dastron system.”

“We leave as soon as I’m on board. I will deal with her on the way.” He flicked the screen off and gave a command to his pilot. He strode towards the disembarkation point and waited, hands relaxed by his side, feet at ease, hooded and masked head held high. A figure of black that emanated grace and power but inside he could feel the turmoil beginning. These past months he’d let go all that could weaken him. He’d reached down inside and found the power in his darkness. Overcome every test Snoke set. He’d banished the light, that flaw that was like a scourge within him, weakening him.

Yet, like a meteorite, she was back and so were those unwelcome memories. He understood why Snoke didn’t want her. She was a weakness. If he was going to be who he was meant to be then he had to destroy her. One hand curled up into a fist for a moment and relaxed. He felt unexpectedly cold as the Command Shuttle set down in the hangar. He quashed the shiver that threatened his demeanour. He would execute her. He expected she would resist but he cared little about that. A picture of her, small and frightened in the rain, flashed in his mind. Yes, he’d protected her back then but now it was different. He was no longer a weak and foolish boy and she had been poisoned by the Jedi’s constrictive and ineffectual teachings.

He barely waited for the shuttle ramp to touch the floor before he strode out. Stormtroopers stood to attention about him. He strode through them without a thought, his focus was her. No doubt she was being held somewhere. This time he wasn’t going to waste time trying to get information from her. It would be a blow to Luke Skywalker to lose her. He would be satisfied with that.

An officer stood out and saluted. “Sir.”

Kylo Ren recognised Dopheld Mitaka. The unfortunate man had born the brunt of his anger before and so it impressed Ren that he stood, face impassive, before him.

“Where’s Captain Phasma,” Ren demanded. He’d expected she would be here to meet him when they had an important prisoner on board.

“She’s currently dealing with a situation in docking bay two,” the Luitenant said. Ren stopped and looked down at the Lieutenant. Was he about to be the unfortunate bearer of his wrath once again?

“Has the prisoner escaped?” Ren said. The lieutenant stood like stone and answered without hesitation.

“A search is underway as we speak. Sir there isn’t anywhere for her to go.”

Kylo Ren looked about. The Finalizer was one of the largest star destroyers ever built and he’d learnt not to underestimate her. Ren wasn’t happy. A little squeeze of his hand and Mitaka began to swallow and look pale. This issue with the prisoner was a complication he didn’t need.

“I want her found immediately,” he said.

A communique beeped on a console nearby. Ren released the unfortunate officer. Mitaka breathed in fast but didn’t make the mistake of wasting time to get his breath back. He stepped over, knees wobbling, and flicked the switch. It was Hux.

“Is Lord Ren aboard?”

“Yes,” Mitaka croaked.

“Then we depart immediately.” If Hux wondered if there was something odd about the sound of his officer’s voice he didn’t care to enquire.

Kylo Ren stood with his feet apart, looked about the hangar and reached out with the force. Where are you? He ranged through the ship, looking for that bright little beat of her heart. Her life was strong and the force gathered to it. He felt her softness that covered a steely resolve. I know you’re on this ship and you’re climbing.

_Go Away_.

Kylo clenched a fist. He began to make his way towards the command deck. She wasn’t going towards the lower decks so neither would he. He reached out again. I know you’re here! There was no reply. Kylo pushed harder. Come to me and we’ll talk! 

Silence.

I can tell you about your past!

_Liar_.

The word stung just a little. He told himself he would say what he needed to say to bring her in.

_You would_.

He pulled back. Damnit, he’d pushed too hard. This had happened before. She could see him just as easy as he could see her. He would have to be careful and keep his distance enough so that…

An image of her face, bright and strong, blazed in his consciousness. It faded but left an imprint in negative on his mind.

_What did you do?_ She was startled, angry.

Nothing! I don’t know. What did you do?

A whisper came, like voices in the wind.

What was that?

_Be Quiet!_

What did it say?

_If you’re not going to get out of my head then shut up._

Kylo Ren was frozen with shock. He had tried to pull out of her mind be he was stuck. Why was he still in her mind?

_It’s where you can hear me_.

The voice, soft and windswept, breathed into his mind, full of regret and sadness. And it brought the light.

No, no, no. He shut it down. Shut it out. He stood like a stone. Refused to feel anything. He reached for the darkness. Pulled it to him like a shroud.

“Sir.”

He looked about. Mitaka’s uncertain look reminded him where he was. He’d stopped dead in the middle of the hangar. Whatever battle had been raging inside his head was not apparent to the officers and troopers about him.

“I want her found,” he barked and strode towards command. He had to get this girl out of his life.

He had to get her face out of his mind.

There was a slight lurch in the ship as the hyperdrive engaged. Now they were all stuck here together for the next eight hours.

Ren made his way to a lift. Waiting Stormtroopers backed away and a technician speedily scooted from the lift as it opened and he saw the imposing figure waiting outside. Ren turned as the doors closed behind him. Alone, he tried to understand what had just happened. The voice he’d heard. He couldn’t place it but he had a feeling he’d heard it before. Like a long ago memory of which there had been too much in between and now it was hazy and hard to see.

When he closed his eyes he could see her face, fierce and beautiful. He tried to hear the voice again. Had it been her speaking to him? He didn’t think so. Had the voice been speaking to her? Maybe. Had it been speaking to him? An unreasonable fear clouded his mind when he thought of that possibility and he struggled to clear it. Who would speak to him inside Rey’s mind? The voice baffled him.

Worse, it had brought the light. Or maybe that was Rey. Maybe he’d stayed there too long. He should be more careful. The temptation of the light was strong in him. He needed his grandfather’s presence to strengthen him. He needed something to keep him from failing. His earlier failure to find Darth Vader bit at Ren’s ego. He turned and slammed a first into the back of the lift wall. It seemed his own pain and anger were the only things he could rely on to keep the light at bay?

 

Rey clung to the ladder, shaking. Kylo Ren’s masked form still lingered in her mind. She breathed in, willing her heart to slow and even out.

_Grandfather_

_I’m here._

_What!_

_Who!_

_Who was that!_

_Ben’s grandfather tried to reach out to him in the link._

_Darth Vader_

_No. Anakin Skywalker. That’s who he really is._

Rey breathed in and nodded.

_Alright but…it frightened me._

_He won’t do it again. He doesn’t want to hurt you._

Rey was grateful but one thing she didn’t understand. _Why did I see Kylo Ren's face?_

_A temporary force link. Nothing more.  
_

Rey assumed she didn’t need to worry about it happening again. For now at least.

She didn’t understand a lot of stuff that was going on in her own life but Kylo Ren was still a nightmare and a mystery to her. She thought of the vision. His dark presence was behind her, pursuing her, like on Takodana. But it was Kylo Ren the man, not the masked horror and it was more like a dance. She had come to an open place and Kylo Ren now lay at her feet. Her grandfather told her to choose. Let the dance go on or end it forever. He warned her to listen to her heart. Rey was pretty sure she wanted the ‘dance’ to end. She breathed in pushed on up the ladder.

Rey’s mind was so full of thoughts and images she just wanted some peace. She didn’t know how long it was since she’d slept but it had been afternoon on Pal Charin and now she was growing weary. She came to a break in the ladder that lead to another deck. She peered out and in the dim light recognised a myriad of channels and pipes leading off into the dim interior of the ship. It was the sort of thing that could be exhausts or conduits for the hyperdrives. Actually one of the places she was least likely to be found was close to the outer wall of the hyperdrive. Any further than that and she would be poisoned by radiation. Too far away and it would be too easy to find her and pull her out. The sub-light engines were quiet for now and the sound of the hyperdrive projected away from the centre of the ship. Perhaps she could find a place to hide and sleep.

There were places hard to access, even for a trimmed down technician. Stormtroopers would never fit through in their bulky armour. She searched around steel encased compartments. Finally she decided the best place would be behind the stasis field generator in a little alcove meant to provide access for maintenance. The floor was cold and hard but at least she could use her satchel as a head rest. She remembered the citral cakes she’d stuffed in before all this began and pulled them out and began to nibble on them. A pity she hadn’t stuffed a wrap, or even a scarf in her satchel as well. She did her best to curl up in the tight space, her head on her satchel, and use her training to relax and fall into a light sleep. She didn’t want to go too deep or she may not be able to wake up if she needed to.


	6. Chapter 6

Ren slammed the door shut on the room he used while on the Finalizer. Hux had ordered a scan of the ship to find her but it was obvious that wasn’t going to be effective while the hyperdrive was in operation. He needed the chance to be alone while he concentrated and searched for her with the force. He had to be careful though. He didn’t want a repeat of what had happened earlier. Now that they were in hyperspace he could not contact Snoke. But then Ren knew he needed to complete this task on his own lest he provoke his master’s displeasure.

Snoke had been unimpressed with him since Sarkiller. Even through his final training there had been a subtle change. The favour he’d enjoyed until then had faded. Ren knew it was his own fault. He’d been foolish and weak. His mind had been diverted from his purpose by her, the scavenger. He refused to say her name. Snoke had not been as patient as he’d been in those early years since he’d turned his back on the Jedi. He’d given Ren the freedom back then to explore the dark side and gain power from it. Unlike his uncle, whose restrictions and admonitions had held him back and left him powerless and stunted.

As a boy Ren had been lonely and angry. He’d indulged his wild side, joining the Knights of Ren. They had told him the truth about his grandfather, Darth Vader. After he’d first felt his grandfather’s presence, he’d begun to experiment with the dark side. He’d felt like he’d belonged. Then his mother had found out and sent him to his uncle. Even his father had agreed with her. Uncle Luke was going to train him. He’d felt abandoned and trapped.

Ren pushed the bitterness of the past away. That was a lifetime ago. He’d made his own choices since then. His focus was the present and finding the stowaway on this ship. The sooner he dealt with her the better. His thoughts had not wandered to the past for many years. The foolish boy of the past was gone and in his place was a man with a purpose and she was in the way. Still, it bothered him that he would remember his feelings of being both abandoned and trapped as though those feelings weren’t really in the past but closer now than he wanted to admit.

Ren sat on the floor, his knees up and his arms draped over them. He let his head fall forward as he reached out in the force. Her presence was hard to find, more ethereal than before. It took him a while to find and touch her presence and when he did he was stunned. She was asleep. He removed his helmet and pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. She was in danger and she took the time to sleep.

He made a conscious effort to pin point her actual location but couldn’t figure out where in the ship she was. Truth was he didn’t know what half of this ship looked like, most of it being the workings of engines, systems and crew quarters, all of which he took no notice.

Eventually he realised that she was deep inside the ship, so deep the hyperdrives and the shifting of hyperspace itself was interfering with how the force gathered about her. He concentrated hard and could make her out, curled up in a ball in a place too tight for anyone even slightly bigger than her to get to, let alone a Stormtrooper. She was dressed only in pants and a light tunic and jacket. The same boots. Even her hair was the same.

He could probably send in a probe to find her but that close to the hyperdrive and other important components it would be too much of a risk, especially if she woke and tried to defend herself or stop it coming back to him.

Out of no-where a laugh shook his chest and a smile creased his face; something he hadn’t done for a while. He shook his head. That girl had some nerve. A stowaway and asleep. He dug his fingers into his hair and sighed.

“Rey, oh Rey,” he muttered. He froze. The sound of her name on his lips shook him. What was he saying? He was losing it. He needed to stay focussed and not get sentimental. What he needed was a workout. He sprang to his feet, snapped his helmet back on and headed for the training area. He noted several groups of officers and Stormtroopers make hasty diversions or retreats along the way. That was fine. He didn’t want to sip chenacuitte and make small talk with anyone anyway. He slammed open a training room door and found a contingent of Stormtroopers going through basic combat.

“Get out,” he yelled. 

Bodies hastened to comply. He stalked over to a console and cancelled all the hologram safeties and entered a punishing routine involving an assortment of beasts and humanoid opponents. He lit up his lightsabre and took up a defensive stance. A snarling winged nightmare flew at him from out of the ceiling. Sometime later he was sporting two new laser cuts on his back, a rip in his thigh, a bruise on his cheek and bleeding knuckles. The walls were probably still shaking from the sound of his roaring and more than thirty hologram beasts and humanoids were technically dead. When the routine ended he dropped to his knees, letting go his grip on the force. He shook from exertion and was saturated with sweat. He tipped his head forward, unclipped his helmet and slipped it off. He wiped sweat from his face and ran a hand through his hair.

Captain Phasma was standing across the other side of the room. He stood, ignoring the pain in his back and planted his feet apart.

“Have you found her,” he snapped.

“Our patrols are still searching,” she said. He knew he should tell her to look near the hyperdrive engines but he didn’t. He could feel Rey was still in the same location and right now he needed some recovery time from trying to kill himself. Let her stay where she was for now.

“Sir, you should go to medical and get those injuries…”

“Don’t mother me Captain. I’m not a Stormtrooper.”

Phasma straightened and stood to attention. “Sir,” was all she said. He strode past her, or at least meant to. A spasm of pain in his back took him by surprise and his step faltered. She whipped out a hand to steady him but he glared at her and she backed off.

“Sir, the damage from those laser cuts is more than superficial,” Phasma said. Ren knew she was right but he still didn’t want any help. The pain was keeping him from thinking of her. Her name ghosted up in his mind and he pushed it away. Protests from his back warned him that what he wanted might not be what his body would allow. He accepted the pain and pulled on the force for strength. He strode out of the training room and headed for medical. He could feel Phasma’s stare on his back and not for the first time felt something a little more than the usual concern or loyalty an officer might hold for a superior. He didn’t care to explore it any deeper. His thoughts were elsewhere.

 

Rey dreamed that Kylo Ren pursued her. They ran through the halls of the cloud city from her first vision. Ren called out to her. She stopped and turned around. He stood, hand outstretched to her, a blue lightsabre protruding from his chest. He fell forward, face first to the ground. Rey was frozen, staring down at him, her cry of horror dying in her throat. When she finally looked up a woman with Rey’s face now stood over him, her face twisted with hate. She heard a laugh, deep and malevolent. Rey looked about but there was only darkness, a darkness that was filled with dizzying power. She turned back to the warped image of herself and saw that instead of the blue lightsabre she now held Kylo Ren’s red lightsabre. The image of herself darted forward and plunged the red lightsabre into her heart. Rey knew she died.


	7. Chapter 7

Poe powered down the Falcon after they docked at Skath Holding’s main port. The prison was only a few blocks away, a large modern square box like building among the aged streets of the capitol. Chewie sat in the co-pilot seat and Luke stood behind him with BB-8 close by. They had all decided that Leia had to go on to Mor Adane. A rescue mission for Rey was a luxury the Resistance General couldn’t afford. She had been away long enough and the Resistance needed its most key player. They had met up with one last frigate heading for Mor Adane. Poe had reluctantly allowed his X-wing to be ferried to the new base.

That Finn was not with them had been a point of contention. Poe felt he should come but Leia wanted him to help with plans for the new offensive against the First Order. Finn had developed a talent for tactical and strategic operations. Poe knew Leia was also worried about losing more people after the heavy losses they had taken since Starkiller Base. When they realised that blood from a cut on Finn’s finger had allowed the First Order to track him from Corellia, there had been no more arguments. Leia had ordered him to attend medical so they could find a way to remove the tracking isotopes in his blood.

As for BB-8, he’d simply snuck back on board and revealed himself after they went into hyperspace. Poe couldn’t blame the little droid. They were off to rescue one of BB-8’s favourite people.

The idea was to pose as officials from Coruscant who wished to question Imri Hallomy on matters relating to arms trafficking. They would then convince officials they needed to extradite Hallomy to Coruscant to testify. Poe was doubtful about this but Luke thought it would all be fine.

Poe wanted a back-up plan just in case. Being a high security prison there was little likelihood that they could just fly the Falcon in and pick up passengers but at least it was a thought. They decided a medical emergency combined with a diversion, such as an explosion, was their best bet as a back-up. Poe felt both plans were too sketchy but it seemed Luke was used to following sketchy plans. Luke had said that they needed some room to assess the situation when they got there. Poe agreed. He was used to improvising to get himself out of trouble. He just wasn’t sure how much of what he’d heard about Luke Skywalker was true, now that they were about to put it all to the test in Skath Holding.

Poe and Luke donned the simple dark grey garb of public officials. They stuffed some extra local style kit to throw over themselves and their mark in a back pack and gave it to Chewie. If they needed they could do a quick change. Chewie was going to wait outside the jail entrance but kept a communicator on his belt. It was doubtful he would pass as an official from Coruscant. Poe knew he could help create one hell of a diversion if needed though.

The sign in at the front office went better than Poe expected. When the admitting officer asked for their paperwork, Luke stated that it had been sent on ahead and should be in their files. The officer looked a bit dazed for a moment then agreed. Poe looked up at Luke and wondered. They hadn’t even had to flash the fake badges Leia had given them. The stories he’d heard about Jedi tricks started to sound less like just stories. Whatever he’d expected from Luke Skywalker it was starting to unnerve him how easily this was going. Luck ran out eventually, even for Jedi.

They were shown through a series of corridors to a clean and serviceable room. There were four chairs and a table, no sharp edges, all chained down. Poe and Luke both remained standing. They seemed to wait for a long time before the door opened and a guard shuffled in a blue Twi’lek in orange prison fatigues. She was pretty as Twi’lek’s went but not beautiful. She appeared to be similar in age to Rey and like Rey, also had more experience in her eyes than her age suggested.  The missing end of her left head tail was obvious, as was a thin pale scar across the bridge of her nose. The wary look in her eyes was expected. What Poe didn’t expect was how many security measures they had on her, including holo-cuffs on her wrists and her feet, an immobiliser collar on her neck and a flying security drone above her head.

“Your prisoner,” the guard stated. He shoved her forward, her body threatening to topple forward due to the cuffs on her feet. When she didn’t fall the guard looked disappointed. His lip curled as he glared at her then he turned and left. Poe wanted to kick the guard in the ribs while he was down but stayed where he was.  

Imri Hallomy stood there glaring at them, her sullen expression a warning as to how their interview was likely to go. It was then that Poe realised they hadn’t really discussed how they were going to run this interview. He figured he’d start with the obvious.

“Good morning,” Poe said. “We’re from the Coruscant Bureau of internal affairs. We’re making enquiries about matters relating to the confiscation of arms by local authorities.” He hoped he sounded enough like an official to be convincing.

Imri’s expression changed as interest sharpened the look in her eye. She said nothing, just waited.

“Would you like to sit down,” Poe said, indicating a chair. Imri glared but made an effort to comply. The holocuffs and chains on the chair legs did not make it easy for her. Luke stepped forward and held out a chair for her. She looked up at him and smiled. Luke smiled back. When she turned back to Poe her expression returned to a glare.

Poe decided it would be helpful to be on the same level so he sat opposite her. The glare didn’t change. Luke took the seat next to Poe. Imri’s expression defrosted a little.

“I’d like a cup of uchina,” Imri said. Poe had been about to ask her about her ship but his words fizzled under her expectant glare.

“I already ordered,” Luke said. Imri turned a sweet smile to him and said thank you. Poe looked at Luke hoping his surprise wasn’t too obvious. Luke turned to him, his expression mild, and made a small gesture of encouragement for Poe to continue.

“Ah, yes. Well. We’re interested in the ship you crewed with Hadrin Jaeks.”

Imri’s glare turned venomous.

“I hope you’re here to tell me he’s dead and that his demise was painful and demeaning,” she spat. Poe took that as a sign that their relationship hadn’t ended well.

“Ah, it’s possible he was arrested by the First Order.”

Imri nodded her approval. “I’m fine with that.”

The door opened and a droid shuffled in. It placed three cups of something steaming and fragrant on the table then turned and shuffled out.

“Wow, you weren’t kidding,” Imri said and reverently reached for one of the cups.

Poe looked sideways at Luke. He simply reached for a cup and held it in his hand as though he were savouring the aroma. Poe took a cup so he wouldn’t look churlish. Imri sipped hers with clear enjoyment. Poe hoped now she would be more inclined to hear their request.

“So,” Poe began. “We would like to locate your ship. We believe it may contain further information about….”

“No,” Imri said. She stared at him over her cup of uchina, her face impassive. Poe wondered for a moment if that was an improvement on openly hostile. He was silent as he gazed back at her.

“I don’t care what department of hoo har you come from. I ain’t givin’ you my ship,” Imri said.

Poe recognised a haggle when he heard one.

“We’re prepared to offer you a transfer to Coruscant in return for your cooperation,” he said. The wary look he’d seen before returned. She hadn’t been expecting that.

“Is that so,” she said. “And you could actually make this _transfer_ happen.” Her face was a little incredulous.

“We have the paperwork in place,” Luke said. Imri looked at them both, the wary look now tinged with speculation.

“In return for the code for the locator beacon to my ship.”

Poe nodded. Her eyes narrowed and she leaned back in her chair.

“Either you’re desperate or stupid,” she said. The drone above her buzzed and made a beeping sound; it’s analysis of the conversation not to its liking. Luke made a surreptitious wave of his hand and the drone fell silent.

Imri’s eyes widened momentarily and then she looked more closely at Luke.

“You know this place would see you as an hors d’oeuvre and him,” she nodded towards Poe, “as dessert.”

“Or they might not see us at all,” Luke said looking up at the drone. Imri’s mouth fell open as the drone drifted down to the table and quietly shut down. Poe did his best to keep his mouth shut as though he’d expected that to happen.

“What about the rest of it,” Imri said, pushing her holo-cuffed wrists forward a little. Poe looked at the over-the-top restraints. The holo-cuffs looked heavy duty, meant for those inclined to escape. The immobiliser collar was designed to stop runners. The holo-cuffs on her feet completed the picture.

“How many times have you tried to escape,” Poe said. Imri smirked

“A few.”

Luke coughed. Imri said nothing, daring him to challenge her. Neither Poe or Luke made any further comment on her escape attempts. Poe decided the security measures could stay for now.

 “I’m sure it would look suspicious if you were to walk out of here without all of your _gear_ ,” he said, and make sure she didn’t disappear on a hunt for her ship without them. “We will ensure your comfort in spite of the security measures.”   

Imri didn’t look happy. “At least allow me to get rid of the ones on my feet. It’ll be a slow walk to wherever we’re going otherwise.”

“I’ll adjust them so you can walk a little easier,” Luke said. For once Imri didn’t favour him with one of her sweet smiles. Poe nipped at the inside of his lip to stop the grin threatening to spread across his face. Poe got up and knocked on the door. A guard entered the room, different to the one who’d brought her in. He was large with a debauched look about him. He looked at Poe and Luke with disdain before his eye fell on Imri.

“If she gives you any trouble just let me know and I’ll sort her out,” the guard said, his mouth twisting into an unpleasant version of a smirk. Imri looked down and shrank in her seat.

“Actually we’ve had no trouble with her,” Luke said. The guard looked like he wanted to swat Luke like he was a bug. Luke kept that mild expression on his face that completely masked whatever was going on in his mind. He couldn’t have missed the implication of prisoner abuse. Poe noted it and decided that as soon he was back on base he would file a report and a request for an investigation with what was left of the New Republic. If they ever defeated the First Order then there may be a chance to scrutinise local situations such as this that tended to flourish under regime’s like the First Order.

“We will be extraditing her to Coruscant today. Please inform the head warden,” Luke said. The guard’s eyes narrowed and a muscle in his jaw flexed.

“I’ll inform the head warden,” he said but the derisive tone of his voice implied something far different would happen. The door clicked behind him, locking them in.

“No, no, no,” Imri said, her eyes darting and her hand tugging at her full length head tail. “They won’t let me go.” Poe’s heart squeezed when he saw the pinched look on her face. The feeling took him by surprise but he ignored it.

“Who won’t let you go,” Poe said.

“The head warden. He…” she looked at them, her face shutting down and becoming impassive. The crease in her forehead didn’t quite go away though.

Luke stepped over to the door and placed a hand on the lock mechanism. There was a beep and the door cracked open.

“Your extradition has just been fast-tracked,” he said. Luke beckoned for them to come. Imri was frozen to the spot as her mouth fell open.

“Now,” he said. Imri scrambled to her feet and shuffled forward. Luke looked down at the hollo-cuffs on her feet and they readjusted on their own allowing, her to walk normally. The drone lifted off and followed them as well but Poe could see it was still in power down mode. It was all starting to feel surreal to Poe. He remained in the rear, mainly so no-one could see his incredulous face.

They passed several guards in the different corridors but they walked by with nothing more than a cursory nod of recognition. Another door opened with a touch from Luke and they walked through into the foyer. Poe could see through the armour glassed front doors to the open space beyond. We’re they actually going to just walk out of here unchallenged. They walked past the original sign in desk.

“Wait a minute,” a voice called out to them. Luke stopped and turned, that mild expression back on his face.

“You need to sign out,” an official said.

“Of course,” Luke said and took the data pad the official handed him. Luke entered the necessary details and handed it back.

“Before you go there is one last thing we need to do,” the official said. Poe could feel his heart rate rise just a little bit and a little bit more. The official pulled out a small triggered deviced and approached Imri.

“Get away from me with that,” she said.

“It’ll be ok,” Luke said in a gentle voice. Imri looked up at him and something passed between them that Poe couldn’t fathom. Imri slowly extended her arm and allowed the official to press the device against the inside of her elbow. There was a beep and the device flashed.

“I’ve updated all of her information. She has a locator beacon if she tries to escape.” The official waved a chastising finger at Imri. “It wouldn’t be the first time.”

“Thank you,” Luke said. They turned and headed for the doors, Imri between them. Luke activated his comlink to Chewie. The doors swished open. Poe could feel the coolness of the air outside rush in to meet them. The cool air brought the smell of the street with it. Poe started to feel a giddy sense of success.

There were several shouts at once.

“Stop them.”

“Lock the doors.”

“Shoot them.”

The shouts galvanised Poe’s muscles. He grabbed Imri and dragged her through the doors. Luke ducked a laser bolt. The doors swished shut behind them. They ran into the street. Imri tripped on her restraints and Poe reached down and hauled her up into his arms. Imri wasn’t as heavy in his arms as he’d thought she might be. Her body pressed up against his wasn’t so bad either. Again, he ignored that thought and focussed on getting the hell out. The problem was, whether he carried her or she ran, their progress was too slow.

Chewie emerged from the milling locals and raised his bowcaster. Poe ducked in behind him. There were several thunks, each followed up by an explosion as the bowcaster took out the construction above the prison entrance, closing it off. There were screams and general confusion as people began to run for cover.

“We better get out of here,” Luke shouted above the din. Chewie looked down at Poe with Imri in his arms. He held out his arms and Poe handed her over. It would be easier and faster for Chewie to carry her.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Imri was clearly alarmed at being caught up in Chewie’s hold.

“Ah, meet my co-pilot. Chewbacca,” Poe said.

There was no more time to discuss niceties as Stormtroopers emerged from a side entrance of the prison.

“Damn, I thought this planet was free of the First Order” Poe muttered.

Chewie roared and Poe looked up at him in astonishment. Imri was also looking at him in shock.

Then there was an answering cry from the crowd.

“Resist the First Order.”

A rock flew through the air and hit a Stormtrooper. The Stormtrooper shot back but that just inflamed the situation. Several more rocks flew and this time there was a laser bolt aimed at a Stormtrooper. More cries rang out and more people began to fill the streets. They began to wend their way through the crowd. They found a doorway where they stopped for a moment. Luke placed a hand on the holo-cuffs about Imri’s feet and they fell away. Chewie put her down and pulled the pack off his back. Luke pulled out a brown cloak and threw it over Imri, covering the bright orange of her prison fatigues. Poe threw his leather jacket on but that was all they had time for.

“Nice riot Chewie,” Poe said as they moved off at a fast walk. Chewie huffed. Any pursuit by the Stormtroopers was quickly left behind in the gathering crowd. More and more people were running through the streets, jostling them. He felt Imri slide off into a group of people running towards where they were leaving. Chewie, Luke and Poe all reached for her. Chewie got to her first with his extra height above the crowd and extra arm length. She was unceremoniously stuffed under his arm as they moved off again, her shocked and angry face staring back at Poe from where it bounced around at about Poe’s eye level. Poe noticed that her holocuffs had disappeared.

“Alright, alright,” she cried. “I promise… I won’t try to run.”

“Promises don’t mean much from an arms dealer,” Poe quipped. Imri glared at him. Poe couldn’t help grinning at her peeved look from where she poked out from beneath Chewie’s giant arm.

“I am not… an arms dealer... That was Jaeks… scene. I’m a… bounty hunter,” she said between bounces.

“Not a very good one it seems,” Poe said.

“I am… a good bounty… hunter... It was Jaeks… who messed… things up... He should have… stayed away …from that deal.”

“And he dumped you in the bantha phodu right.”

“Too right…Last time…I ever take on…a partner.”

“Spoken like a true bounty hunter,” Poe said. Imri glared at him. Poe bit the inside of his lip again to stop himself laughing at her undignified situation under Chewie’s arm.

“When I get…my ship back…I’m done with…” her words were cut off as Chewie dumped her back on her feet. They were at the dock and there was a contingent of officials waiting for them.

Poe felt his heart drop. Surely this was the end of it. They were going to get caught before they could get on the Falcon.

“Sir, is this your ship,” a short and officious looking docking clerk said.

Chewie growled. The official seemed to understand Shyriiwook and turned to the annoyed Wookie. It also seemed the docking clerk had no understanding of his imminent danger as he pursed his lips and continued with his speech.

“We notice you have several defects on your vessel that will require repair before we allow…”

Chewie barked.

“A small fee of…”

Chewie growled.

“We have more than enough to cover any fees payable,” Luke said, that mild expression back again. Chewie’s surprised huff laid a fair amount of doubt.

“Fifteen hundred Republic credits,” the clerk said, a triumphant look on his face. Poe did a double take. Chewie roared and raised a hairy arm at him. Even Luke’s mild expression slipped just a little.

Imri stepped forward and pulled her robe back away from her face a little.

“Nice one Hubit. Is that to help pay for all those gambling debts you rack up at the Star Lily casino,” Imri said. Luke’s mild expression had morphed to something vaguely unnerving as he pulled out the fake Internal Affairs badge Leia had given them. Poe quickly followed with his.

The clerk’s eyes widened and his face paled. He looked down at his data pad again.

“Ah, look at that,” he said, a nervous laugh interjecting his words. “Must have been some mistake. The fees only come to one hundred and fifty credits.” There was that nervous laugh again. “Actually just this once I think we can overlook such minor fees. If you’re in a hurry I wouldn’t want to hold you up any further.” The clerk and his side-kicks started to back away. They all heard the blast of Stormtrooper fire growing closer. They had broken through the riot and were heading for the dock. Hubit and his men turned and fled.

Chewie clicked a button on his comlink and the Falcon’s boarding ramp descended. No sooner had it touched the ground than BB-8 rolled down, a series of beeps and whistles heralding his agitation.

“We know BB-8,” Poe said. No-one took their time getting into the Falcon. Poe noticed the security collar from Imri’s neck was now lying on the ground where they had been standing.

BB-8 buzzed and whistled as Imri passed the little droid at the top of the ramp. She smiled and knelt down.

“Hello. What can I do for you?” BB-8 beeped and nodded its head towards her arm.

“Oh. That’s right,” she said and extended it towards BB-8. A mechanical arm extended out from the droids body and pressed against her inner elbow where the official had updated her chip. One quick stab and BB-8 extracted the chip then the droid spun and ejected the offending cylinder out the closing gap as the ramp came up. It fell into the dust on the tarmac and disappeared.

All the Storm troopers could do when they got to the dock was to let off a few laser blasts as the Falcon rose and rocketed skywards.

Poe manoeuvred the Falcon through a bevy of security shuttles but he had a mostly clear run out of the atmosphere.

“Anytime you want to give us that code,” he said to Imri.

“What code,” she said. 

They all looked at her, even BB-8. The silence was so frigid it made Hoth seem balmy. 

“We can always take you back,” Poe said.

“Alright, I’ll help you find my ship but I’m not kidding. My ship doesn’t have a locator beacon.”

“Don’t say that,” Poe said. This couldn’t be true. His mother had told him once not to trust a Twi’lek. For the most part the ones he’d known had proved her wrong. Imri on the other hand…

“That doesn’t mean I can’t find my ship,” she said. “I just need a computer with a hyperlink.”

Poe pointed to the console behind where Chewie sat. Imri quickly got to work, her hands flying across the display.

 

A young technician on the Finalizer yawned, wishing she hadn’t taken a double shift to cover for her friend. She was doing some last minute checks inside Captain Phasma’s new ship after fixing and upgrading the weaponry when she heard a giggle and turned to see the impish face of a Twi’lek at the top of the cartographic display. Almost the moment she saw it, it disappeared from the screen. She tapped at the display trying to get it to reappear or trace where else on the Finalizer it had come from but there was nothing, not even a record among the computer memory involving a Twi’lek. If they weren’t in hyperspace she would have suspected the ship’s computer was being hacked from an external location. Another possibility crept into her mind. She’d heard stories about haunted ships. She decided she’d finished her checks and exited the ship with hasty steps, a shiver running up her spine.


	8. Chapter 8

_Rey_

Her mind snapped awake. She’d been in a dream about a dream. She’d been looking out at the green of Takodana, her peaceful place. Her mind had been in turmoil trying to remember another dream she couldn’t remember the details of. Someone had died and she had caused it. She kept her eyes closed and tried to remember but he images eluded her. All she had was the certain knowledge that she had made a choice and it had been the wrong one. She wondered if she should write down what she remembered but then realised she didn’t have her datapad. 

She was reminded of where she was when an exhaust fan started up. It was time to go. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and extricated herself from her hiding place. A twinge of pain in her side made her wince. Sleeping in a star destroyer engine wasn’t a good way to take care of her body.

Rey did some quick stretches and fixed her hair with her fingers before she got going. She needed to find a way off this ship. The problem was she would need to disable the tractor beam or all her efforts would be pointless. The other thing would be to send some kind of coded message to the Resistance once they came out of hyperspace.

She decided the power to the tractor beam wouldn’t be too far away. She thought about the old star destroyers she used to climb through as she grew up. The Finalizer wasn’t as big as some of the monstrosities the Empire had built but it wasn’t small either. As far as she’d climbed she knew she hadn’t made it very far up the ship and she still needed to find a computer to access the ship schematics.

Unease settled into her gut. Here inside the engines she could remain safe, at least for now. She stopped and hugged her arms about her. They would find her eventually. Kylo Ren would find her. She would have to face him again.

She wasn’t ready. She’d spent a lot of time burying her fears and feelings about him. Luke’s grizzled face came to mind as did his encouragement to face her fears.  She could feel her fear stealing her strength even now. She had to know it and understand it. Except her mind wouldn’t let her. Even though she’d overcome Kylo Ren in the snow that day, it could so easily have been different. He’d come after her like a predator in the snow, beating her back until she had no-where to go.  Then when he’d reached the killing moment he’d pulled back. Instead of finishing her and hurling her into the dying planet below he’d shown her the very thing she needed to defeat him. She taken it, knowing it was her only opportunity to escape. In a way he had been her first teacher, except she’d stolen the knowledge straight from her memory of his mind and used it against him.

Since then she’d wondered if he’d expected her to yield. What would have happened if she had? Her rage and fear had stopped her from yielding but it was that dark voice that had stopped her when she reached her killing moment. It triggered a fleeting memory like a warning that evaded her. Rey had pulled back just as Kylo Ren had. Luke told her it was the light in both of them that had kept them from the abyss that day.

Whatever had happened between them, she could not forgive his other actions. Whatever abyss she and Kylo Ren had avoided together in the snow had nothing to do with the abyss he’d already hurled himself into when he killed his father. She knew he had fears of his own and maybe they had driven him to such wickedness. Luke had spoken about compassion and understanding but she couldn’t quite let go what he’d done to Han. Han had been a good man, someone who was willing to step up when it counted. He’d reached out to his son and had been rewarded with evil.

Rey breathed in and forced herself to go through one of Luke’s calming routines. It would not help to let fear and anger cloud her vision. She had a task ahead of her. Determined, she continued to make her way through the ship in search of an escape route. She tried to avoid main corridors, sticking to the narrow access ways and spaces in between.

She came to the end of an access way and listened. She could hear nothing. She pushed open the hatch just a little. Again no sound. She wriggled out and closed the hatch behind her. No doubt she’d triggered some kind of sensor. If there was a technician worth their salt on this ship they’d be tracking her progress. She hoped that with all the movement about the ship it wouldn’t be so easy to distinguish her progress from a search party or a technician doing their job. A thought occurred to her. She hadn’t seen anyone yet. Was that because she was keeping out of the main passageways or were they keeping people out of her area so it was easier for them to track her.

Rey looked about. This new room was large and dome shaped. In the centre was a large power unit. A corridor extended out to the side and she could see another power unit in another room beyond. The same on the other side. Rey’s mouth dropped open a little. No need for schematics, she’d stumbled on the main power unit. All she had to do now was deactivate the power feed to the tractor beam... and notify everyone where she was. There would be sensors everywhere for sure. She closed her eyes and felt for the tiny threads. Nothing.

That couldn’t be right. Any kind of instalment like this would have sensors. Even the First Order wouldn’t be that arrogant. Was someone helping her? She thought of Kylo Ren. He wanted to find her but…

She heard voices. They were coming her way. She crawled back into the access way but kept it slightly ajar.

“What do you think? Some kind of drill,” one voice said.

“I heard they were looking for a stowaway.” They were getting closer.

“On a First Order destroyer. Not likely.”

“They’re looking for something.”

“Well, I’m just here to check the circuit boards. If it’s not loose wiring then I will have to look elsewhere for the fluctuations. Did you turn off the sensors? I’m not interested in being stormed by a bunch of cowboy troopers while I’m trying to do my job.”

“No problem. All done, just be sure to notify me when you’re finished. ”

One set of footsteps left. Rey cracked open the hatch to the access way. She could see a young woman, her back to her, stretching up to pull down a power board. Her bright red hair fell in a braid from under her cap down her back, contrasting with her grey uniform.

Rey waited until the woman was deep in the middle of her task before she crept out of the access way. Her steps were quiet as she crept closer.

The woman looked up about to reach for another circuit board.

“Don’t move,” Rey said, using the force to gently hold the woman in place. Rey felt the woman’s body jump in fright and her heart begin to race. She raised her hands. Rey increased her hold with the force.

“Don’t move.” Rey could feel her struggle. Rey never liked holding people like this. It was frightening to be so powerless. She could feel the woman trying to speak. Rey let her.

“I know you’re a Jedi. Let me help you.” Rey wasn’t sure she heard the woman right.

“What did you say?”

“I can help you. I‘ve been helping you.”

Rey loosened her force hold and let the woman turn around. Wide brown eyes in a pale freckled face, a tip tilt nose and pink lips in the shape of an O completed the picture of the woman Rey held. There was something about her that seemed familiar.

Rey caught sight of the woman’s identification badge and felt her heart skip a beat.

“Kari Hux. Any relation to the General,” she enquired.

“Cousin,” the woman replied. Rey’s heart skipped another beat.

“And you want to help me.”

“We’re not close…my cousin and I,” she said. Rey reached out and touched the woman’s emotions. No subterfuge. She was afraid but hopeful.

“Why would you help me?”

Kari Hux swallowed and looked down.

“Not everyone in the First Order wants to be here. Most of us just don’t have another choice.”

“You always have a choice,” Rey said.

“They don’t respect life the way you do. It doesn’t matter who my cousin is, who my father is or my mother.” Rey wasn’t sure what to say for a moment. Kari became anxious.

“It’s true. Their program, their mind control program. We all have to do it. My cousin excelled. I didn’t.” Kari looked down “At least I didn’t want to.” Rey could see there was something strong inside this woman but there was a brokenness that undermined her strength.

“Perhaps but that’s not a reason to help a Jedi,” Rey said.

The woman nodded and swallowed. Rey loosened her hold a little more but the woman didn’t try and break free.

“I don’t want to be controlled. And my cousin, he doesn’t care about who dies. My grandmother told me stories about the Jedi. They were all that was good in this galaxy and Sn..” Kari took a deep breath, struggling with emotion. “There are other things…that...” She looked down, her jaw clenching.

Rey could feel the grief emanating from this woman like waves. If she was lying about wanting to help her then she was a master force user, better even than Luke. Rey knew it could be a dangerous choice to trust someone. There was something about Kari that Rey liked. Something good inside her heart that hadn’t been broken.

“I need you to disconnect the power feed to the tractor beam.”

Kari’s eyes brightened and she nodded.

“Yes, of course. You can escape on a shuttle craft that way.” Kari turned, reached up and pulled down another circuit board.  “The Finalizer will arrive first,” she said. “The rest of the fleet will follow shortly after but they will hold their distance. He doesn’t like to be crowded.” She tapped at a console then pulled a small pair of plyers from her belt, reached into the circuit board with the pliers and pulled out a wire.

“That should do it. When we get to wherever we’re going you should be able to get away.”

Rey was surprised.

“You don’t know where we’re going?”

“Half the people on this ship don’t know where we’re going. You should know which half I’m from.”

Rey stared at her for a moment. Kari returned the circuit boards to their place and turned around, a smirk on her face.

“It feels good to stick it to that two faced cousin of mine.” Her face grew serious. “It won’t help you if they find out what I’ve done. At least they shouldn’t find out until after you’ve gone. After that…well.” She shrugged and raised a fatalistic hand.

Rey wondered at the woman’s bravery.

“I’ll do what I can,” she said. She raised a hand and spoke with the force in her words. Rey could do this much easier now and with more predictable results.

“You will return the way you came. You will not remember what happened here until after I’m gone from this ship. Then you will leave the First Order and join the Resistance.” Rey was a little sad when she saw Kari’s face become confused and then turn without recognising her and walk away. A little pang of loneliness gnawed at her as she watched Kari disappear around a corner. She hoped they might see each other again one day.

Rey didn’t waste any more time. She crawled back into the access way and began making her way back through the ship. She needed to find somewhere she could get a message to the Resistance. Most likely they would be coming out of Hyperspace soon and she needed to be ready to go.

A touch brushed her mind. Rey stopped and breathed. She wouldn’t let him in this time. Last time she had been taken unaware. This time she hit back, with the force. 


	9. Chapter 9

Kylo Ren felt it like a physical shock. Like he’d been slapped. He hadn’t even realised he was pushing at her mind again. He’d been thinking of her and wondering what she was doing. He reigned in his emotions. This girl tested his patience in so many ways but he refused to give way to his temper as he had in the past. It was only getting in the way now. He clenched his fists and looked about the room with its medical equipment and personnel. They all looked at him nervously.

“Almost finished Sir. This one will leave a scar though,” the doctor said as he worked on Ren’s back. The deeper of the two laser cuts had actually shaved through some of the bones in his back. Ren figured he probably deserved it for being stupid enough to turn off all the safeties in his workout program. It had taken longer than he was happy with to fix and now he was eager to get back to his search. She couldn’t be far away. At least she wasn’t still in the engines. He heard the doctor put down his equipment and slid off the bench to stand.

“Ah, sir. I need to place a patch over that last one yet so…”

“Leave it,” Ren said. One more scar wouldn’t matter. She was on the move and he didn’t want to waste any more time. He wanted her secured before they arrived at Dastron. A droid whizzed in with a replacement for his ruined clothes. He threw his tunic and robe on and fastened the belt. He secured his helmet, like he was entering battle. He reminded himself she was a Jedi, not a girl in the rain or even a desert savvy scavenger. This was his problem. She was strong with the force and he had to stop giving her quarter.

I will find you.

He threw the words out not expecting any response. He got no answer.

 

Rey heard his words and felt his resolve. Her heart sped up and her neck tensed. She had to stay ahead of him. She wasn’t sure where she was now. She had left the engines and power units behind and now she was crawling somewhere between decks. Crew quarters perhaps. Maybe she could sneak in somewhere and use a console. She could hear stamping feet above her as though a group of Stormtroopers were passing overhead.

Her back and her knees were starting to ache from all the crawling. Her stomach grumbled, just to remind her that those citral cakes had only been enough to take the edge off her hunger before and her stomach was empty again. She made her way up through an air-conditioning duct to where she could see out of a floor level grate into a room. The grate would be just big enough for her to fit through. She looked out and spied a well-equipped communication console and displays. There were also a table and chairs on one side and a large desk on the other. It looked like crew quarters for someone of higher rank. There was a good chance they would have a more sophisticated and secure communications set up.

Rey tested the grate. It came away easily. She reached out gently and briefly with the force. She didn’t want to alert Kylo Ren. There was no-one in the room or nearby. She stepped out into the room and looked around. There was a large window flanked by heavy curtains that looked out into the blur of hyperspace. The room seemed to be a well-appointed study. There was a door to one side leading to a more comfortable living room and possibly a sleeping area. On the other side was an exit door. She wondered if maybe she’d found Kylo Ren’s quarters but it had a hint of plushness about it that didn’t fit him. She thought of him as preferring the ascetic interrogation style room from Starkiller base.

Rey went across to the console and looked to see if she could make a secure connection to the Resistance.

There were footsteps outside the study door. Rey looked about for a place to hide. The narrow grate she had just crawled out of would take too long to get back into. Hiding behind the desk wouldn’t work as that would be where the person would go first. The thick curtains hanging to floor length beside the window were her only option. She flattened herself against the wall, making sure her feet were fully covered and keeping herself from getting tangled in the cords.

Whoever they were they went straight to the console and began to tap at the display. Most likely the person would have their back to her so she peeked around the edge of the curtain to see. She got a shock. The immaculate uniform and ginger hair could only be one person. General Hux. Word was he’d given the order to annihilate the Hosnian system. Rey thought about jumping out and slicing him in two with her lightsabre but only for a moment. That was the dark side. Better to wait it out and move on when she could.

She continued to watch as he brought up personnel files, flicking through faces until he found one. Rey felt her mouth widen a little as she recognised the face. Kari Hux. Rey focussed on the display he was typing into. He was editing her service record, changing it from a reprimand for incomplete work so that she now had a medical reason for absence. Either he was protecting his cousin or he was very fussy about anything that might tarnish his reputation, including family failure.

Rey watched as he flicked through other files. They all seemed to have serious offences recorded against them. He stopped at another file. Rey’s jaw dropped and she nearly gave herself away, covering her gasp in time. Finn’s face stared back at her.

A serving droid rolled in with a steaming cup of fragrant uchina beside two delicate fruit pastries. Rey couldn’t have been more compromised in that moment. She was hungry and her stomach responded with a growl. Hux spun around, blaster drawn, just as Rey slipped back behind the curtain.

Damn. Rey hoped she wasn’t going to have to get physical. She used the force to knock something over in the room beyond. Hux was too cool to let that phase him as he continued to scan the room at his leisure. He took his time moving towards the other room. As he moved he passed the table and chairs. Rey had an idea. She didn't know if this would work but nothing ventured…

Rey breathed in, let herself relax and reached out with the force. In one fluid movement she moved a chair out from the table, spun it and pushed Hux down into it. She emerged from the curtains, yanking out the cords and pulled them with her as she leapt towards the shocked figure of Hux. She knocked his blaster aside and looped the cords around him and the chair, pulling them tight. She held him with the force but it was a messy move and he started to struggle.

“Let me go?” he shouted in a voice used to giving commands. Rey wasn’t very good at following commands from mass murderers. The curtain cords weren’t going to hold him for long. Rey noticed the belt he was wearing. She reached down, unclipped it and pulled it away from his waist in one fluid movement. Hux mouth dropped open. The belt lengthened easily and she refastened it around his waist, arms and the chair.

“Is this what Jedi do now? Hide in my drapes and spy…”

Rey picked up one of the pastries and stuffed it in his mouth while she looked for something more permanent to shut him up. She saw a scarf hanging from a nearby rack and snatched it up. She tied it over his mouth, before he could spit out the pastry and start yelling again.

“Be happy I was nice enough to make sure you got something to eat,” Rey said. Hux glared at her, his eyes simmering with fury, and yelled something unintelligible through the pastry and the scarf.  Rey snatched up the other pastry and took a bite.

“Mmm, delicious.” She picked up his uchina and took a sip as well.  “Mmm, just what I needed.” Hux looked incensed. Rey took a few more gulps of the hot drink and put the half empty cup back on the droids tray.

“Thanks for sharing,” she said and headed for the door, munching on the remainder of her stolen pastry. She stopped and turned back to the console. Finn’s face was still on the screen. Rey skimmed what was in the file. At the bottom of the screen appeared a name and a birth date. Rey committed them to memory. She looked about. There was no-one else around at the moment but someone would come soon enough. She could feel him getting closer. She better find another place to send a message.

 

 

Kylo Ren could feel it. Chaos was infecting the normally well-ordered ship. Groups of troopers were everywhere. Phasma was snapping out orders. Technical staff were showing up confused. Now General Hux was missing.

He felt a ripple. She was using the force and quite a bit of it. Was she in combat? He stopped and searched. Crew quarters. Ren raised an eyebrow. Officer’s section. He picked up his pace. She was still on the move but he had a definite direction for her now.

He turned into the crew quarters passageway but she was gone. He was about to pass General Hux quarters when he noticed the door was open. He stopped and looked in. The man was sitting in a seat, scowling and trussed up like a roast.

There were many times Kylo Ren had been glad for his helmet and the reasons were many and varied. This was the first time he was glad it covered the snarky grin spreading across his face. He stepped through into Hux study. Hux glared up at him, although Ren could feel he was also nervous.

“Either you made Captain Phasma really mad again or you’ve met our Jedi stowaway,” Ren said. Hux shouted something through his gag but Ren ignored it. He ignited his lightsabre. Hux became very still and his face paled, his eyes fixed on the fiery weapon. Ren was gratified to see a little bit of moisture on the man’s forehead as well.  

“Don’t worry General. You’re completely safe,” he said. Hux didn’t look convinced. Ren reached over with the lightsabre and ran the tip down Hux side, slicing through his bonds.

Hux didn’t move until Ren retracted the sabre. Then in a rage he pulled his bonds away. He yanked the scarf off his mouth and spat something out of his mouth.

“Are you mad,” he snapped. Ren stood still, a smirk still playing about his mouth, and watched Hux as he fumed.

“She’s getting away.”

“I will find her. Is there anything you can tell me?” Hux stared at him for a moment then his gaze slid away towards the console display. Ren turned to look. FN-2187 was on the screen.

“I hear you were hoping to retrieve the traitor today but Phasma managed to capture our young Jedi instead. I must thank her for that.”

Hux looked like he was about to spit fire. His back ramrod straight and his face aggrieved.

“The little spy stole my breakfast.”

Ren grinned again. He would remember that gem for later when he needed something to cheer him up. He tried to imagine Rey eating Hux breakfast while he sat there tied to his chair. Ren exhaled. As much as he was enjoying Hux humiliation, he still had to find her before she caused any more trouble. He turned to leave the room.

Hux had one more thing to say, or at least shout.

“You burned my coat.” Ren stopped, turning his head just slightly back towards the annoying officer.

“My apologies,” he said before he stalked out the door.


	10. Chapter 10

A general alarm sounded throughout the ship, the same alarm on every ship when they were about to exit hyperspace. Rey was running out of time. She needed to find a way off this ship. She could feel him closing in on her. Up ahead a group of Stormtroopers rounded a corner. Rey ignited her sabre and fended off the blaster bolts that came her way, sending them in all directions. A trooper went down and the walls about her sported a new arrangement of smoking holes. She took the offensive and charged the troopers, knocking more blaster bolts and bodies out of the way. A lift opened in the wall behind and she dove into it before it closed again. There were two technicians inside. They stood there frozen, eyes transfixed by the buzzing lightsabre. She didn’t know how many decks the lift went down but it was a mercifully short trip. When the door opened Rey could hear an alarm start up. The technicians baulked between getting too close to the glowing lightsabre and making their escape through the door.

“You can go,” Rey said. They fled, raising the alarm as they went. Rey peeked out the door. Most people were bolting down hallways but there was also an officer with a drawn blaster. He snapped off a shot when he saw her. Rey ducked back inside and the bolt uselessly hit the wall above her head. She jumped to hit the close button but didn’t give it a destination. She needed to get out of the lift. They’d watch which floor she stopped at and would be waiting for her. She hit a button to keep going down another floor but nothing happened.

They’d stopped the lift. She stabbed her lightsabre through the control panel, locking the door mechanism so no one could get in that way. She looked up. It was her only escape. She jumped, using the force to knock out the ceiling hatch and propel herself up through it. She spread her feet out just in time to land on either side of the hatch as she came down. To the side of her there was a set of rungs where she could climb to the next level. She jumped across and caught the rungs, quickly climbing up. There was a cacophony of sound below her as the doors of the lift she just exited was peppered with blaster fire.

Another lift was travelling down to where she was. The force rippled out from it and a shiver ran through her. She knew who was in that lift. The masked face she’d seen earlier came to mind but she ignored the image and kept climbing. There was a service recess up ahead and if she was lucky it would lead to an access way.

The descending lift stopped. Rey caught her breath and stared at it for a moment.

_Rey. Climb._

She hurled herself up the metal rungs towards her goal. She heard the hatch of the other lift blow and couldn’t help a glance back. Kylo Ren was too big to fit through the hatch as she had. The red quivering tip of his lightsabre pierced the ceiling of the lift and ripped the hatch wider to allow him through. He sprang up through the ruined ceiling of the lift and found a foot hold at its side. He immediately looked up at her, his lightsabre in a ready position in his hand.

They stared at each other. Rey was frozen, the hair on the back of her neck standing on end while goose bumps swarmed across her skin. He stood like a dark spectre below her. Masked and hooded like the first time they’d met in the forest on Takodana.

_Climb, Rey, climb._

Rey turned back to the ladder and threw herself up the last few rungs to the recess. She felt that suffocating grip about her body trying to immobilise her again like it had on Takodana as she clambered into the recess. She hit back. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him stagger then right himself.

Inside the recess there was another hatch. She yanked it out and tossed it aside.

“Rey.” His voice was a metallic command through the mask and without realising she turned and looked back down at him.

“Come down, Rey.” He lifted a hand towards her and she could feel the force compelling her to go back down. She lashed out, fear causing her to maximise her effort. Kylo Ren’s masked head snapped sideways and he dropped his hand. Rey didn’t need another invitation. She dove into the access way and started crawling.

It wasn’t as tight as some of the access ways she had crawled through before. Easy enough for him to follow her but not easy enough for him to make good speed. She pushed herself onwards, hurting her knees and banging her shoulder at one point.

He wasn’t following her. She stopped. There were a few distant bangs and other metallic sounds but that was it. She wondered if he knew where this access way went to. Perhaps he’d gone to wait for her where it came out? She calmed herself and tried to focus. Where was he going?

Yes, he was beneath her.

_Come out Rey._ His words came to her in the softer tones of his own voice without the mask and she shivered.

Whichever way she went he would track her.

_I will find you._ The shadowed image of his face flickered in her mind.

Rey shut him out. She focussed on her surrounds and where she could go next.

A welcome voice came to her this time.

_Go up._

“Thank you Grandfather,” she whispered. She looked up. The ceiling of the access way directly above her was thick plate alloy. Too much effort, even for a lightsabre. She shuffled along a bit further and saw what she needed. A ceiling hatch.

She quickly yanked it open. Another access way but tight this time and no rungs. She looked about. There was a small console and she placed her hand on it, prying into its workings. It was a simple device. A small push and a little platform extended just above ankle height and a hand hold a little further up. They were attached to a track that ran upwards. Rey stepped up and grabbed the hand hold. Immediately she began to rise.

A flare of frustration rippled through the force. She ignored it. She had to focus on where she was going, what she was doing. She didn’t want to go too far up but if she didn’t go far enough it would be too easy for Kylo Ren to find her again. She loosened her grip on the handhold and it slowed and stopped. There was another access way in front of her. She was getting sick of all the crawling but the alternative was worse.

The access way ended. She pushed it open a little, wondering where this one would open out to. It was another open space but this time it was full of computer terminals and displays. She could send a message, if she didn’t get caught. The hum of activity came to her ears. She peeked out a little further to see. There was no-one in her immediate vicinity but she could feel many people further out in the room.

Maybe this wasn’t a good idea. She was about to go back in the access way when she heard the sound of the tiny lift she’d used behind her. She cursed under her breath, her retreat now cut off. She didn’t want to be caught inside the access way so she climbed out and looked for a place to hide. He gaze was caught by the sight of the planet outside the ship. It filled half of the viewing windows. It’s blue jewel colour breathtaking against the black of space. Rey would love to simply go and watch it but she had to keep moving.

There was a doorway in a little alcove to one side of her. She looked about to check no-one was looking before she scooted across to it. She started to push it open. The door was yanked inwards and a male officer stood in the space staring at her. His mouth opened in shock when he realised who she was.

Rey leapt, shoving him back into what looked like a stairwell and kicking the door shut behind her. She had her lightsabre out in a flash and angled the blade across his throat as a threat.

“Don’t say a word.”

The stunned man stood there too terrified to move let alone speak. Rey looked him over. He was just a little bigger than her. Probably a good size. His insignia indicated he was a lieutenant.

“Jacket,” Rey barked. The man looked confused. “Take it off.” With shaking hands he pulled it off and extended it to her.

“Pants.” He hastily divested himself of these too.

“Hat.”

The man swallowed then spoke in a croaky voice.  

“If you don’t mind, I’d rather you just tied me up than do some Jedi trick on me.”

Rey stared at him. His hand absently travelled to his neck.

“If you insist,” she said.

Rey slipped back out the door with the lieutenant’s uniform hastily donned over her clothes while he sat in forlorn resignation on the floor, tied up with his socks and shirt and a handkerchief stuffed in his mouth.

Rey looked down at her satchel. It was a dead giveaway, as were her boots, and the lightsabre. The hat didn’t sit well on her hair buns either but she didn’t have time to fix that. She decided it would be a good idea to try and stay out of the way of other officers if she could.

She saw a vacant computer terminal. Maybe it was the lieutenants. It seemed to have a space of its own rather than sitting among the banks of computers further out on the floor. Perfect.

Rey sat and looked about. An officer walked past and she looked down. He kept going. Rey breathed out, her heart hammering inside her chest.

She looked at the display and tapped a few keys on the keyboard. What she needed to do was develop a secure line. She remembered on Jakku there had been a young Twi’lek, a computer hacker, who’d flown in with a bounty hunter for a few weeks while they waited for a mark to show up. Her name escaped her now but she’d shown Rey a few things.

It wasn’t long before Rey had set up a line that she was fairly sure was secure. She was about to open the line when realisation struck her and the blood drained from her face for being such an idiot. If the First order realised what she was doing then they could track the communication link and find the new base of the Resistance. She thought for a moment.

She didn’t have to send a message to the actual Resistance. There were others who would help. She patched in a line to Maz instead.

When the screen lit up with an image it was indeed the face of Maz. She rocked back first then flipped up her glasses and leaned forward.

“Rey, where are you,” she said.

“Um.” Rey realised she still didn’t know yet. She hit a few keys on the keyboard and fiddled with the display.

“The Dastron system. Problem is I’m stuck on Hux’s ship.”

Maz flipped her glasses down and focussed on something at the bottom of the screen. No doubt she was working her keyboard.

“Message sent to the General,” she said.  Rey breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thanks.”

Rey looked at Maz again. “And the others.”

“I can only send a message to the General at the moment.”

“Oh.” Rey understood what that meant. The others weren’t there because they were probably out looking for her. Rey looked at her screen again, working the display section.

“According to this, nearly two thirds of the entire First Order fleet has come with Hux to this system.”

The wrinkled orange face got more wrinkled and nodded slowly. She tapped her keyboard again for a bit before she looked up.

“You take care and stay out of the way child. Now get off this line before they trace it.” Maz smiled as she flicked off the screen. Rey broke the communication at her end.

Now to figure out a way to get off this ship. She was going to have to get back down to the hangars if she was going to steal a ship. She thought of the ship that had brought her here. She didn’t know much about it but it was probably her best chance.

“And who might you be.” The clipped voice behind her wasn’t happy. No doubt the owner of the desk had now returned.

“Oh, excuse me. Must be at the wrong desk,” Rey mumbled. She slid out of the chair being careful to keep her face averted and tried to back away.

“Stand to attention and address me properly Lieutenant,” the irate officer barked. Others started to turn to see what the fuss was about. Rey froze. Not how she planned for this to go but…

The officer whipped out a blaster.

“I think the game is up stowaway,” he snarled. Rey looked up. He was an older man, a captain, who wasn’t going to quiver and give up like the younger officer. She could probably disarm him quickly with the lightsabre but that would only attract more attention and more blaster fire.

A ripple in the force informed her that Kylo Ren had also arrived. With certainty she knew she was in grave danger.

She wasn’t going to be his damned prisoner again.

Grandfather?

_Fight._

Rey took a slow breath. She caught sight of the dark figure over the captain’s shoulder.

Is that the only way?

_Fight for your life._

Rey swallowed.

“Well done Captain Anders. Now step back before you get hurt,” Kylo Ren said, the metallic sound of his voice booming through the room. The captain’s eyes widened and his eyebrows shot up as he turned towards the dark knight.

Rey flew into action. Her lightsabre was in her hand, its blue blade cutting through the air and the captain’s blaster. She kicked out, a spinning kick to his side. She used his momentum and a force push to fling him towards Kylo Ren. The captain’s scream changed direction abruptly as Ren swept him aside.

Rey brought her sabre up as he advanced towards her, the red crackling cross of death held at ease by his side.

“You can surrender now or we can rip this place apart and then you can surrender,” he said. Rey let her lightsabre be her answer. She gathered the force and leapt. He caught her blow with his own, the sabres sending out a shock of sound and light. Parry followed parry, testing each other’s power and skill. She followed her training, letting the force flow while she kept the fight in front of her. Ren  relied less on his strength and height this time and more on finding the gaps in her defence. Rey focussed on finding his but to Rey it seemed as though he had none. She wasn’t going to give in, even if she did spend most of her time running away again.

They skirted a bank of technical displays, sabres swinging while personnel dove for cover. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Hux emerge from the rear of the room leading a group of Stormtroopers. A volley of blaster fire rent the air. Both Rey and Ren deflected them about the room. Several bolts hit a bank of screens and another smacked into the clear steel plating of the viewing windows. A crack appeared. An alarm sounded and the security shields slid down.

“Cease fire,” Hux screamed.

Ren and Rey’s sabres buzzed and cracked as they returned to the fight. Ren lunged, aiming to get behind her defence. Rey spun and swung aiming for his midsection. Ren whirled about and caught her blow before it could find its mark. This time he did use his strength, flinging her back. Rey flipped and landed on her feet sabre up as he lunged again. Rey sidestepped and brought her sabre down on top of his. Ren stepped in and shouldered her out of the way brining his sabre up again. Rey leapt back but lost her balance. As she fell back she curled into a ball, continued to roll and sprang back up on her feet.

They continued the dance about the command deck, computer consoles and occasional pieces of furniture becoming collateral damage. Much of the personnel had fled. Nervous Stormtroopers stood about the General as the two combatants continued to strike, both skilled, both refusing to yield, one with power and grace, the other fierce and with a tendency to underhanded tactics.

Like the chair Rey pulled into Ren’s way when he leapt over a bank of half destroyed computer consoles after her. He quickly swept it aside but he didn’t land well and stumbled just a little. Rey turned back and kicked him against the half height wall behind the consoles. For a moment his stance was wide open as he tried to regain his balance. She leapt in and stabbed for his heart. At the last moment he brought his lightsabre up and across, holding her at bay. They stared at each other. Rey pinned him against the wall, their lightsabres crackling and flashing as they locked together.

Their breathing was ragged and heaving as they fought the fatigue beginning to grip them both. Rey could feel the dark power he gathered to himself and she pulled the light to her like a shield.   

“You can’t win this,” Kylo Ren said, his voice like a command willing her to yield.

“What makes you so damned sure,” Rey snarked back, seeding doubts into his mind.

Ren shoved and pushed her back. She used it to gain distance between them, keeping her balance and footing and taking up a defensive stance.

“I will wear you down until you surrender,” Ren growled.

“Then we could be here for a while,” she retorted.

There was a hiss like a door opening and more storm troopers burst in, Captain Phasma in the lead. Inevitably two or three Stormtroopers let off a couple of blasts. Most of them were aimed at her. Several went wide. Some she deflected. One skimmed her shoulder and she grunted as the sting numbed her arm.

One was also deflected by Ren, the bolt hitting a console on the wall at the bottom of the steps to the upper command deck. A door slid back.

Phasma and Hux both yelled a cease fire.

Rey realised the open door was an escape pod. Ren knew it too and kept himself between her and it. Rey wasn’t interested. She may have disabled the tractor beam but there would be nothing stopping them from using her as target practice while she floated about in space if she used the pod to get away.

A dark cold feeling crept up her spine. Something sinister was slithering against her mind like an acherl eel from Ahch-To. Kylo Ren obviously felt it too. He straightened.

_Fight. Don’t stop._

Rey took heed of her grandfather’s voice and lunged at Ren, he deflected her blow and swung back. His sabre skimmed the front of her abdomen. It burned but the extra layer of clothing she had on protected her from anything more than just a graze. She kept coming for him. She pulled light and force to her and as she had done back on Starkiller she went after him, beating him back with sheer ferocity.

“STOP.” The voice embodied power and control, sinister in its intent. She recognised it from Starkiller base. The voice in her head. It took all her effort to ignore it and keep fighting. Ren was also affected by the voice as he stumbled in a quandary, unable to obey the voice as she kept beating him back.

A huge hologram face, pale and twisted filled the upper command deck. She could see its eyes, watching, furious. She ignored it, fighting for her life.

Rey felt her body grow tired but she kept fighting, drawing on the force to throw the feeling off. Kylo Ren regained his footing and found a stable stance, catching her lightsabre with his and locking them. He towered over her and forced her down.

_Don’t give in._

“KILL HER,” the twisted face commanded. She felt a whirl of emotion from Kylo Ren. Light and dark suddenly at odds. He looked between her and the huge hologram face.

“You said she would die beside Luke Skywalker.”

The huge face leant closer. The eyes piercing through her as they considered her.

“Will he come for her?” Ren bellowed, his effort to hold her also taxing him as she continued to draw on the force to resist.

Rey could feel her arms begin to weaken as Ren kept her locked down. It wasn’t just Ren though. It was like she was held in a pincer grip. It didn’t take much to realise it was the face of Supreme Leader Snoke looking at her and he was with Kylo Ren, working against her.

She had to get away.

Grandfather help me.


	11. Chapter 11

“You’re insane.”

Poe covered a grin as he watched the old Jedi and the angry Twi’lek face off. Luke considered Imri with an enigmatic stare. Imri stood there with her arms crossed and her face reflecting the thunderclouds gathering above her head.

“There must be hundreds of First Order ships there and you just want to fly in and land somewhere to pick up your friend like we’re on a picnic.”

The faces of Maz Kanata and General Leia Organa occupied one half of a communication screen each. They both looked concerned but also amused.

“What is your intention Luke,” Maz said. Luke ran his hand down over his beard and looked out the front view of the Falcon into the dark of space.

“She’s in trouble. Her vision showed many different consequences. The dark side has turned its face towards her. It sees her now.”

“Yes. More rides on this than just her fate,” Maz replied.

“Luke, Rey won’t give in to the dark side. I know she won’t,” Leia said. Poe hoped Leia was right about Rey. She had a steely resolve but if Ben Solo could be seduced by the dark side then her prospects were not good. Poe tried not to think what that would mean. Poe concentrated on tangible things that he felt would make a difference. He tapped on the display to bring up system details.

“The Dastron system is littered with small mining operations on moons and outer planets, asteroids and the like. We don’t have to try and fly straight into Dastron or Katigal city. We could fit in with the traffic flow between mining operations and land somewhere inconspicuous,” he said.

Imri laughed.

“Sounds great, except the first thing the First Order is going to do is take control of system space and any traffic flow,” she said. Poe considered the feisty Twi’lek for a moment. There was something about her that was more than the failed bounty hunter that had ended up in jail when her partner double crossed her. She knew more about the First Order than Poe would have thought. She turned and looked at him. Not for the first time he felt a slight heat on his cheeks when he averted his gaze.

“It’s still your most likely route of entry,” Maz said.

“My intel shows there may be pockets of resistance sympathisers in the outer system regions Poe mentioned,” Leia said.

“I could ask around. There’d have to be someone who could give us a name or two,” Maz said.

Luke nodded.

“I agree.” He opened his mouth as though he were about to say something but then he stopped. His eyes took on a far-away expression and he went still.

“What is it Luke?” Leia said. Luke shook his head and sat in the chair behind Chewie. He was silent for a moment.

“She’s in great danger and…” He breathed in and out. “So is Ben.”

Leia closed her eyes, a frown on her face.

“Link with me Leia,” Luke said. Leia’s eyes opened as surprise and doubt clouded her features.

“I haven’t done that for such a long time Luke. I don’t know if I can. You’re so far away.”

“Ben and Rey need you.” Leia looked down. Poe could see her knuckles turn white where she gripped the side of the communication console. Poe could not imagine what she was feeling about her son at this moment but he knew she still believed she could save him.

“Yes,” she said and closed her eyes again.

“Maz,” Luke said.

“I’ll do what I can,” she said. “But you have to know I’m doing this for Rey.”

“I understand,” Luke and Leia both said.

“Poe, plot a course for the Dastron system please,” Luke said then he turned and made his way to the Falcon’s lounge where he could be alone. Poe had no idea what any of this linking thing was about and how they could fight the dark with it but if it meant Rey would still be alive when they got there then he was all for it.

Poe started plotting a course and Chewie made some adjustments for fast hyperspace. Imri put a hand on his shoulder.

“You’re not actually going along with this,” she hissed.

“Yes,” he said. “They’re doing what they can and so I’ll do what I need to do.” Imri considered him with narrowed eyes as she chewed her lip. A half grin turned up the corner of one side of her mouth and a wry laugh escaped her lips. Poe liked the way it softened her face as well as the light husky note in her voice when she laughed.

“You’re alright you know Poe Dameron,” she said and sat down at the computer terminal she had used to search for her ship. She started tapping away.

“What are you doing?” he said as he entered the last of the coordinates.

“Oh just a little surprise for the First Order,” she said. “I might need your droid at some point.” BB-8 beeped and turned to Poe.

“Maybe,” Poe said. BB-8 whistled and Poe held up a hand. He’d hold judgement until he knew a bit more. He watched her fingers fly across the display as he thought about her real skills. The ones not related to bounty hunting.

“You’re a hacker aren’t you,” he said. Imri’s fingers paused. She shrugged and her fingers started tapping away again.

“I know a few things,” she said.

“You hurt my droid you’ll have me to deal with,” Poe said. Imri flashed him a smile but he didn’t return it. Imri swallowed.

“I won’t hurt your droid,” she said.

Poe noddded as he punched the ship into hyperspace. He was going to have to keep an eye on their little Twi’lek. She was a criminal and couldn’t be trusted, or so he told himself.

The ship fell quiet as those around him focussed on various tasks. His mind wandered to a woman far away and wondered just what trouble she was in.

 

 

Rey looked up into the metallic mask looking back at her. She was close enough to see his eyes behind the mask. A tremor in his hands, barely felt, was echoed by eyes that squinted, concentrating hard.

Rey felt the darkness surrounding her waver and whirl as though a gap had formed to let in the light. It was like she was in a raging sandstorm and she had found a small outcrop of shelter that allowed her to breathe again.

Rey used this moment to reach out and anchor herself firmly in the light.

Ren’s eyes blinked behind the mask, as though surprised. Something had turned and she felt it.

An idea came to mind but it was crazy so she dismissed it.

_It’s a good idea._

What? No way. It’s a bad idea.

_I will help you._

Kylo Ren looked down at her. She could just make out the corners of his eyes creasing as though he were frowning. Could he hear her grandfather’s voice?

_Rey, before the moment passes._

She didn’t know exactly how she was going to do this but she had to try.

She shifted her weight and slid out to the side. He pulled back to go after her. Instead of fighting back she retracted her lightsabre and turned and ran.

“STOP HER,” Snoke roared.

Rey headed for the escape pod. She could see Ren was going to get there first and block her. So far so good. The moment he arrived in front of the pod she stopped, planted her feet and used the force to hit him square in the middle. The force pulsed through her and into Ren, more powerful than she’d ever felt it before. He doubled over, his lightsabre hitting the floor as he clutched his middle. She sprang forward using her whole body to push him into the pod, tumbling in after him.

Rey jumped up looking for the launch button.

“No,” he yelled.

Rey had to admit that First Order ships had good escape pods. Someone had done more than one test run and some good research on how to do them properly. On the side of the door was a large red launch button in easy reach of an escapee strapped into one of the four seats available.

Ren tried to stop her but this time she got there first and smacked it with a hand. The door began to slide down. Ren turned and force pulled his dropped lightsabre to him but he was too late to stop the launch. Even as he caught the lightsabre and ignited it the door shut and the pod exploded into space.

They were hit side on by the wall of the pod. Ren dropped his lightsabre again and its blade retracted. It then became flotsam as the weightlessness of space took over. Rey made a grab for it but Ren pushed off the floor and grabbed her instead, pinning her arms against her side.

“You fool. Where do you think this is going to get you,” he growled through his mask. Rey struggled but his arms were like clamps around her. They hit the ceiling above them, their bodies spreading out against its surface, unable to stop their momentum in the tumbling weightlessness. He was the one to find a handhold and he pulled himself on top of her to block her escape.

Rey found herself wedged between the ceiling and Kylo Ren. She froze. The tip of her nose brushed against the coarse black fabric swathed about his shoulders and she turned her face aside from its roughness as it tickled her skin. His torso crushed against hers set a troupe of drummers off inside her at full tilt from sheer fright. His hips against hers were not a sensation she welcomed. Neither was the storm of butterflies doing laps about her stomach. And she was finding it just a little hard to breath.

So much for her bold plan. She may as well have surrendered back there on the ship. At least she wouldn’t be floating in space in the grip of her worst enemy. A grip that brought him more than too close for comfort. He seemed to realise this and loosened his hold allowing a little more space between them but he refused to let go.

“In a moment the tractor beam will pull us back in and this little stunt will have gotten you nowhere,” Ren said. Rey snorted and looked up at him, a smirk on her face.

Ren looked down at her, his arms tighteneing and his fingers clenching into the fabric of her coat.

“What did you do?”

 

 

The command deck was in utter silence, except for a sparking wire hanging from the ceiling that kept sending little shards of interference into Snoke’s image. No-one moved.

Snoke’s face turned to Hux, his eyes pinpoints of black fury. Hux felt his heart stop. It was all he could do to stand straight. Painful cold circled his body like a grasping hand. His heart beat again in one agonizing thud and then another. His breathe had fled. The command deck seemed far away. The dark and furious gaze that made him feel as though something was burrowing into his brain was all there was.

“THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE, GENERAL.” Snoke’s face leaned closer. “I WANT THEM BOTH BROUGHT BEFORE ME.”

He was released by the invisible hand and the command deck came back into focus. He dragged in a shaky breath. Hux clicked his heels together and straightened his arms by his side as he shoved the terror back down inside him.

“Yes, Supreme Leader.” He was mortified to hear his voice shake.

The face of Snoke disappeared. A tentative relief replaced the cold dread inside him quickly followed by anger.

“Bring the tractor beam on line,” he roared. A few officers began looking for a console that still worked. Hux glared about him. Everyone was frantically trying to do something. As much as he wanted to scream and rant right now he avoided that indulgence. He was here to be the voice in command when chaos surrounded them, not the one losing it. 

“Sir. It’s not responding.”

Hux felt his gut tense.

“Sir, it appears to be offline.”

“Actually it’s showing an error. There’s a hardware problem,” another officer said.

Hux breathed in and out between gritted teeth. It was her doing. The stowaway. Not only had she helped Kylo Ren trash his command deck, she had also rendered the tractor beam useless. He turned to the chrome trooper beside him.

“Right now Captain, I’m wishing you had in fact brought me FN-2187 instead of _her_.” She said nothing, just stood there in her implacable respect for authority.

“Which of the fleet is close enough to come and collect them,” Hux said.

“Sir, they’re falling towards the planet fast. It’s unlikely another ship will be in position before they enter the atmosphere.”

Hux could hear the blood pounding in his ears as a red mist threatened to obscure his vision. He breathed in and out, shaking off the desire to scream at someone.

“Sir, I can get a lock on them with the forward lasers,” someone said.

Hux stiffened, the red mist appearing again.

“And I’ll let you tell the Supreme Leader that you vaporised Kylo Ren shall I,” he said.

The officer’s eyes widened and his hand moved away from his weapons panel.

Captain Phasma spoke.

“I can take a shuttle and a squadron with me down to the planet and pick them up,” she said.

“Thank you,” Hux said. At least someone was thinking.


	12. Chapter 12

Ren pushed away from the ceiling, pulling her with him. In a swift move he pulled his lightsabre to him and clipped it to his waist.

“We need to get strapped in before we hit the atmosphere,” he growled. Rey struggled against him but his arms tightened again.

“Stop fighting me. It won’t help you,” Ren growled.

Rey’s ire flared and her mouth is at it again.

“Stop trying to kill me.” She kicked his shin to get her message across. She felt a moment of satisfaction when she heard a sharp intake of breath behind the mask.

“I’m not trying to kill you.”

Rey snorted. “Doesn’t feel that way to me.”

“I need you alive,” he snapped.

“Until Luke gets here right and then you’re going to kill both of us. I feel relieved you want to kill me later instead.”

He didn’t answer, just looked at her through his mask. His arms loosened a little. Rey wasn’t sure what he was thinking as he looked at her but she knew an opening when she saw one. Her hands shot up between them to his chest and shoved. He tightened his arms again but not before her knee came up. His grip loosened further as he twisted away from the low blow so she shoved again. She can’t quite get away from him, shoving and grunting in frustration. She tried using the force and he countered with his own use of the force.

They spun and twisted, one trying to get away, one trying to keep hold, both trying to get the upper hand when the escape pod starts to vibrate.

“We have to get strapped in,” Ren yelled. Rey looked about, there was no way she was going get to a seat in time. If they didn’t then they would be seriously injured being flung about the pod while it entered the atmosphere. She cursed herself for ignoring this fact.

Ren hauled her closer so he could hold her with one arm then let go with the other and reached back, just managing to reach a hand hold near one of the seats and pulled them in. They started to sink as gravity took hold and the pod shuddered. Rey was relieved when their feet touched the floor. Ren didn’t give her any time to react. He spun her around and pulled her into a seat with him. She tried to get up but he pulled her back down.

“What are you doing?” she yelled. That storm of butterflies was back and they were stealing every cool bit of cucumber she possessed.

Ren’s only answer was to reach around her with the harness and clip them into the seat together. Horror swept through her. She was sitting in his lap with no way of extricating herself. She may as well have been sitting on the burning Jakku sand. Every part of her that was in contact with him felt seared.

The pod shook violently. Rey gritted her teeth. She had no option but to ride this out until they passed through the atmospheric entry phase. She tried to hold herself away from the large body below her but each jolt threw her against him, sending conflicting waves of fury and panic through her. Her head bumped against his mask and he held his head up out of the way. Damn, the sod was being considerate.

Rey was nearly burning up from mortification when the jolting and shuddering abated and the pod righted itself. His hold relaxed and like a shot she unclipped the harness and leapt away from him.

“Why the hell did you do that?” He didn’t answer straight away, as if the whole episode was nothing to him. He pushed himself to his feet, his body filling the space in the pod. She lifted her chin but stepped back as well and hit the wall of the pod.

“Do what exactly?” He took another step closer. Rey brought the hilt of her lightsabre up in threat.

“What are you going to do with that? Punch a hole in the pod and send us both to our deaths. Seems a waste after I saved your life.”

 Rey blinked. “Saved my life. You’ve got to be joking.”

“No.”

“Then you’re insane.”

“Really. You’ve been trying to kill me for the last half hour. Not only have you tried to slice me open and run me through with your lightsabre, you fling us out into space in this…” he waved a hand at the walls about them “…flimsy pod and now we’re falling to the planet below because you deactivated the tractor beam. All I’ve done is tried to keep us from the consequences of your recklessness.”

Rey’s back stiffened and her head shot up. “Reckless. I was fighting for my life. That twisted horror you love so much made that clear.”

Kylo Ren stiffened. She could feel waves of cold wrath coming off him. He took another step closer, towering over her.

“Supreme Leader Snoke is a wise and powerful leader you would do well to respect.”

“Your supreme leader has been supremely good at wiping people out.” Bitterness filled her words. “He’s destroying this galaxy and you’re helping him.”

“What’s destroying this galaxy is the corruption and criminality of the Republic while worlds are left to fall into civil war and starvation on their own. You should know this after what happened to your family.”

Rey went still. The blood began to pound in her ears. Kylo Ren watched her in silence.

“Don’t talk about my family. You don’t know what happened.”

Rey was shaking and tears stung her eyes. Civil war may have driven her and her family from their home planet but how they ended up on Jakku she didn’t know. She knew they hadn’t meant to leave her on Jakku.

“You still don’t remember and Luke hasn’t told you anything has he.” The words were softer but still harsh. Rey felt a hard, painful lump form in her chest that hurt. She steadfastly ignored the whisper in her mind telling her that she had been left there as punishment. That was just childish doubts trying to undermine her. She focussed on the present. Rey wanted to ask Ren what he knew but she didn’t want him to say it. She just knew it would be his skewed version of what happened to them and she wanted the truth.

The pod jerked as the parachutes deployed, sending them to the floor, both sitting down hard. Rey winced as she pulled her legs in and her knees up and wrapped her arms about them. She turned sideways from him so he wasn’t in her direct line of vision.

Kylo Ren did the same, except he draped his arms over his knees and tipped his head forward til his mask rested on his knees. They sat in silence for what seemed like an age, the fight gone from them. Rey thought it weird that they just sat, not quite ignoring each other, not as awkward as she thought it might be.

A red light began to flash and a recorded voice intruded between them.

“Brace for impact, thirty seconds.”

Ren pushed himself up and moved back towards the seat they had come from.

“Better get in a seat for this one,” he muttered. Rey also got up and sat in the seat diagonally opposite him as it was also the furthest away from him.

Rey looked over at him.

“What about your family?”

He turned his head to her, his mask an implacable barrier to any who might read his face. Rey could usually feel a conflicting array of passion and discipline from him or that even more confusing mix of menace and mercy.

She felt nothing from him, as though a wall had been skilfully constructed between them.

She wanted to tear it down. She wanted him to face what he’d done. She wanted to know his heart wasn’t a cold stone that no longer beat in its cavity.

“Do you think of them?”

Ren continued to look at her, his mask and the wall about his emotions giving no clue to what was going on in his mind until he reached up and unclipped his mask. The lower half slid out. Black gloved hands gripped the mask and pulled it from his head. His thick dark hair sprang up. His face emerged. The pale skin contrasted by dark moles, full pink lips and glittering dark eyes were as she remembered but his face was changed.

Rey’s mouth dropped open as she stared at the scar across his face. The one she’d put there. Purple and palpable, it bisected his face, cutting across his forehead, the bridge of his nose, down across his cheek and down over his jaw. A slash of fury that had won her victory and shown him failure.

When he spoke his voice was that melodic voice that could soothe, entice or terrorize but there was a hollow note she didn’t recall.

“I remember them every time I see this. I remember everything that happened that day and I remember you.”  

Before Rey could answer they hit and the pod rolled.

 

 

Kylo was tilted backwards but Rey was tossed from her seat and slipped down the floor to land face first at his feet like she was paying him homage. He resisted the urge to help her. He had to stop doing that. He was angry with her and she was right where she should be. She looked up at him, glaring at him but then her gaze locked on the scar on his face. His anger began to boil. Not because of the scar, he cared little about that, or because she’d pried into open wounds or even because of what she’d said about the Supreme Leader.

No. She’d done it again. Gotten under his skin and now he’d done the one thing as a knight he shouldn’t do. He’d taken off his mask when facing an opponent. He’d hoped she would be shocked by the scar she’d left on his face but it seemed trivial now. Weak, and he hated himself for it. He cared too much when he shouldn’t. He’d grown used to having his mask on but it had felt stifling under her gaze. Throwing her in his lap hadn’t helped cool things down either. The woman drove him crazy.

The pod righted itself and he slid from his seat to stand over her. She still stared at his scar and it infuriated him that it would so hold her attention. He reached down and used the force to lift her up, holding her just off the ground and suppressing her struggles. She hit out with the force but he anticipated the strike and suppressed it. The sparks in her eyes and the scowl on her face brought a smirk to his lips.

“You’re an evil wretch,” she snapped. “That scar and more is what you deserve.”

Fury engulfed him. He wanted to strangle her. He crooked a finger and she floated closer, his hand circling her neck. He let himself feel what it was like to just place his hand about her neck, his black glove against her soft skin. He’d taken his wrath out on others in this way and not so gently either. Her eyes widened and her fear washed over him.

To his chagrin all he could do was lower her to the floor. She felt fragile beneath his touch. The curve of her cheek, her wide watchful eyes and upturned lips slightly parted compelled his gaze. Unbidden an unfamiliar ache gripped his chest and his heart rate skittered and surged. He let his hand fall away and stepped back. He would cut down a foe without a second thought but he couldn’t touch her without becoming a weak fool.

“I’m sorry,” he breathed and if felt like a defeat. The uncertainty in her face was like an accusation of ill breeding on his part. She was an enemy and yet she made him feel like a buffoon at a ball.

The pod rolled again but in a seesaw motion, like they were in the water. Rey stumbled but quickly found her feet, looking about. Kylo looked towards the pod door. They were well insulated inside the pod but there was no view out. A small screen on the console caught his attention and he went over to bring up any scanned information it could provide.

“Just as I thought, we’ve landed in an ocean.” He hissed out a breath. The thought of having to swim for it did not fill him with enthusiasm. Rey was even less pleased than he was. Of course, not much chance of learning to swim on Jakku.

“You going to be alright if we have to swim,” he asked her. Rey nodded.

“I can stay afloat. Maybe paddle. I learned some on Ahch-To.” Kylo is glad he won’t have to drag her out at least.

“Well hopefully we won’t have to. They’ll send a shuttle to pick us up.”

He said it to reassure her against the possibility of ending up in the ocean and fighting the elements. But like an idiot he forgot to think of it from her point of view.  

Rey leapt across to the door and hit the open button.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m not waiting for one of your shuttles to come and get me. Me and Snoke aren’t friends.” Kylo made a grab for her but she shook him off as the door slid up. Ocean water sloshed in along with rain and wind.

“Stop, you’ll sink us,” he yelled at her.

“I’ll take my chances,” she snarled and stood on the edge of the door about to dive in. Kylo lunged for her and threw an arm about her waist. It seemed like an easy catch so he looked up. Her face was frozen in horror looking at something outside the door. He turned his head to see.

Rows of sharp teeth decorate the inside edge of a huge mouth heading straight for them. Even in the rain pelting his face he could see the mouth was big enough to fit the whole pod in. Cold silver eyes sitting above the mouth were those of a predator. Long eel-like tentacles cover the monster’s jaw and neck, spines jut from its back and a long thrashing tail propelled it forward.

They were going to have to jump for it before it got to the pod. If it got its jaws around the pod that huge maw would crush them along with it. Kylo pushed Rey, hauling her into the water with him, ignoring her shriek.

The water is cold and is already starting to weigh him down. Rey kicked out so he released her and they started to swim. Kylo noticed one of his gloves was gone and shucked off its waterlogged pair. The huge beast is almost on top of them but Kylo sees that its focus is still on the pod.

“We’re going to be swamped,” Rey shouted through the storm.

“Dive.” She gaped at him like he’d just told her to fly. Kylo cursed and reached for her again.

“Hold your breath.” He surged forward and pulled her down with him as the sea monster heaved past them, its bulk shoving them further down in the water. Its skin is like the hull of a long haul freighter, pocked and corroded steel, except the pock marks are bony scales and the corrosion like some kind of brown slime. Kylo kicked his legs to propel them both out of the monster’s passage but the rushing, swirling water tumbled them over before they were released.

Kylo can feel Rey struggle in the water so he hauled them both back to the surface. Rey is coughing and dragging in shaky breathes. Kylo does his best to hold her above the water, rain falling into his vision. His muscles are aching. His knight’s uniform is waterlogged and heavy. By reflex he’s already reaching to the force for strength and calm. He feels Rey do the same. It’s so easy for him to feel her and her use of the force. They rise and fall as a wave passes beneath them, the storm whipped top of it slapping water in their faces.

There’s a roar and a cracking sound as the pod falls victim to the sea monster. The beast reared and plunged down into the water, taking the largest bits of the pod with it. Kylo watched it with a sinking heart. No doubt his mask is going down with it. Unlike the last time on Starkiller Base, when someone saw it and grabbed it as they ran, there would be no getting it back this time.

The beast’s tail soared skyward as its body disappeared into the deep.

“Watch out,” Rey yelled. They both start swimming but he can see he’s making better progress than Rey. He turned back to her just as the tail crashes down. A bow wave swamps them leaving them both clawing for the surface. By instinct Kylo pulled the force to him then looked for Rey. He can hear her coughing behind him and tuned to find her.

“I’m alright,” she snapped, pushing him away. He can feel it when she reaches out to the force. It’s as clear as daylight when he feels her pull the force to her and he feels a tug from within his own heart as the light lurking there responds. When he’s this close he can feel almost everything she does. Was it like that for her? Did she feel him using the force?

Kylo kicked his legs to get some distance between them. Another wave pushed them up and then they’re racing down behind it. The monster and the pod have disappeared, leaving them to bob up and down in the stormy sea. The distance between them grew wider and Kylo could feel Rey’s fear. No doubt they could survive on their own but he swims back to her anyway. By instinct they keep a hold of each other, knowing they have a better chance of staying alive if they stay together.

“Can you see land,” Rey yelled at him.

“No.”

The storm and the waves obscure their view of anything but the immediate surrounding sea. Kylo hopes that Hux will send a shuttle or something soon to find them. The locator in his belt should guide it right to them.

“If we drown…” Rey’s voice is swallowed by a passing wave for a moment. “…sorry I took you with me but I’d rather die…” she stops to catch her breath. “By my own stupidity.” He stopped and looked at her. Her face is covered in rain and her hair is plastered to her head while her buns sag at the back of her head.  

Kylo can’t say anything. He’s not sure if he admires her defiance in the face of danger or just thinks it’s crazy. One thing is for sure, he can’t fault her ability to find and make trouble.

“Any idea on which way land is,” Rey said, looking about and wiping water out of her eyes.

“There’s no point,” Kylo said, shaking his head. “They will find us soon enough and trying to swim will only tire us out.”

The storm will make it harder for a shuttle to locate them but he is certain it won’t be long before they’re found. They floated up one side of a wave and down the other.

A log of driftwood floated by and they both swam across to it, glad for the extra buoyancy. They came up on either side, facing each other as they grabbed on. Kylo is relieved to find its big enough to hold both of them above water.

They just hang on at first. Rey puts her forehead down on the wood with her arms draped over the log. Kylo draped his arms across the wood too but he turned his head to look at her. They’re almost touching. He doesn’t try to touch her, unsure of her reaction. Unsure of his own reaction.

He can’t figure himself out. He was determined to kill her. He was ordered to kill her and sometimes he intends to but every time the moment comes all his intentions seem to whither in the brightness of her. She’d known him right from the start. Weak. She’d pointed it out. He’d never be a strong as Darth Vader.

A flash lit up the storm dark sky followed by the sound of thunder, or at least a boom. Kylo tipped his head back to look up but there is nothing but the rain. Another boom came to them from farther off. It’s been a long time since Kylo was planet side during a storm but he knows the sound wasn’t quite right for simple storm activity.

Rey’s head shot up and she began to look around. Her eyes were wide with alarm.

“There’s something in the water.”

Kylo felt something graze his boot. Their eyes meet for a moment and then they’re scrambling up on top of the log, clinging to each other for support as they tried to stand on top of the log. Kylo felt something snag at his boot and looked down. A black tentacle was latched on to it and a huge dark shadow loomed below them. There’s a hiss and crackle as they both deploy their lightsabres.

Kylo slashed at the tentacle with his lightsabre. Rey slashed at the water with her lightsabre as another tentacle tried to whip around her leg. A dark, wet, leathery face bobbed up out of the water for a moment and they both swung their lightsabres at it. It disappeared below them with a shriek.

Nothing happened for a while but not for a moment did Kylo believe the thing was gone. They stood, balancing on the log both watching the water, lightsabres extended, blue and red beacon’s in the rain. It reminded him of her in the rain years ago. He shook his head to banish the memory. He can’t think of that now.

This time the beast came up fast, tentacles wrapping about both their legs but keeping its face below water. Kylo swept his sabre through the tentacles. Rey did likewise. He reached down with the force and found the beasts centre. He stabbed down with his sabre but the beast was quick and ducked below his reach.

They crouched on the log, using the force to keep their balance. Reaching out and looking for danger. Kylo could feel her light radiating out from her, spring sun on ice. He tried to reach for the dark, to the power it gave him but it was elusive to his grasp.

Rey’s scream shattered his striving. Before he even turned the beast had her about her middle and smashed her down into the water. Kylo dove after her. Her lightsabre was out as she twisted in the depths. Kylo tried to grab her foot but he couldn’t quite get to her. Unlike him the beast was in its element and it took her down fast.

He needed the force. He clawed his way back to the surface and the log. It hadn’t quite floated away and he grabbed onto it.

He closed his eyes and opened his mind.

Down.

Rey!

Rey, come to me.

Her fear and desperation nearly undid him.

There was pain. He ignored it. He just reached for her, pulling her up.

She was fighting but her breath was nearly gone. Her muscles screamed but she wouldn’t let it win. There was too much to live for. She had to get back and she would find them one day. All of them. She swung one last time with her lightsabre and the inhuman grip slackened. She was pulled up and away.

Kylo knew he was in her head as he pulled her up. It just happened. And if he was in her head she was in his. He couldn’t let her go. He had to pull her up. He couldn’t stop her from seeing.

It seemed like an age before she surfaced. An age of confusion and shock until her face was there, gasping for breath. He didn’t even think. He just pulled her into his arms. Her coughing shattered the connection and he was glad. What she’d seen was already too much.

She turned her face to him, confusion and shock melding to anger then bewilderment. It wasn’t what he expected. He’d expected her world to shatter as memories came rushing back. Her mouth opened and closed. He didn’t know how much she’d seen but his mind had been on that time before in the rain and now the worst of it was out and he was sorry.

She stared up at him. He reached inside her mind, so easy now when there was no resistance. That strange barrier was still there. He pulled back, confused. She still didn’t remember. Then he saw it but in a way different to what he remembered, like he was looking at a vision, a jumble of images and voices. He wanted to stare at it. He saw himself and he saw her and his uncle and the temple and the other knights in the rain and that moment when he stopped a fellow Knight of Ren from killing her.

“It was my brother who tried to kill me,” she said “And you stopped him. You killed him.”

Kylo realises she has seen the memory in his mind that coincides with the vision he’s found in hers. He’s glad because it means she hasn’t discovered the worst of it.


	13. Chapter 13

Rey stared at Kylo in blind confusion. She hadn’t meant for it to happen. She’d been fighting for her life and then he was there and she was being pulled up to the surface. It had happened before they knew it. He was looking at her vision and she was looking at the other side of it. His red lightsabre plunged into the back of a Knight of Ren, the end of it a glowing accusation of weakness as he stared past it over the knight’s shoulder to her own wet and muddy face on the ground.

Rey had been left behind on Jakku as a little child and never left until six months ago but Kylo’s memory said different. Her brother Eli, the Knight of Ren, was going to kill her but Kylo had lunged forward as something he didn’t understand compelled him to save her. A shudder gripped her and dark spots obscured her vision. She was shivering uncontrollably, unaware of the arm that supported her. She shook her head. It wasn’t true. She felt a kind of distance expand between them, isolating herself from the source of her confusion. It allowed her to remain calm, in control.

She searched her memory again but all she could see was the sands of Jakku, scavenging, working, avoiding the unscrupulous and more sand, more work. Kylo’s memory didn’t fit. Her family, including Eli were still out there and she would find them one day. She squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again and saw the face in front of her, enquiring eyes searching her face. Doubts gnawed at her. Could it be real?

“Tell me what you saw,” Kylo said, his voice soft and coaxing. She felt herself soften, wanting to comply. She closed her eyes and took a breath. He was using the force on her. Skilfully, not in that brutal fashion meant to cause pain. She pushed against it.  

“Tell me what you know,” she replied. She refrained from using the force in return, just looked him in the eye and waited for an answer. His gaze slid away and for a moment he looked like a naughty boy who’d been caught out. When he looked back at her she knew he was going to conceal something from her, she could feel it but then he surprised her with an admission.

“Your brother was jealous. My uncle agreed to train you but not him,” he said. Rey frowned and shook her head. She didn’t remember that. The shudder hit her again and her vision greyed out for a moment. She shook her head. How could he be telling her this when her own mind remembered none of it? Her rational mind told her to trust in herself and what she knew. Kylo Ren couldn’t be trusted.

Something in her wouldn’t let it go. What she’d seen in his mind was clear and unguarded. There had been no subterfuge.

“It’s not true. Luke would have said.” Even as she said the words doubts filled her mind. Luke had never said much at all about the past. He’d told her that he had known the Kenobi’s a long time ago and that they had loved her and so would never have left her without a good reason.

Kylo watched her, his eyes searching but guarded. For once she was tempted to delve into his mind to know what was there, what he knew. It was just there, enticing her and it was wrong. She would not invade someone’s mind and rifle through it to satisfy her own longings. Even Kylo Ren’s. Especially Kylo Ren’s.

“Why don’t you,” Kylo murmured. “Surely I deserve no less.” His voice, soft and warm, tempted her. Had he heard her thoughts? A far away alarm went off. She should listen to it. He leaned closer, his mouth open just a little as if in anticipation. She could use the force just a little bit to get what she wanted, surely.

Rey shook her head slowly. She should not even contemplate diving into his mind. She would find what she wanted another way. It was a violent act to push your way into someone else’s mind…that would be so easy.

His gaze wavered a little, dropping to her mouth. Her heart stopped. Everything else faded away. In that fleeting moment he wanted her. His eyes darkened, his mouth softened and his hand under her arm slide down to her side. That far off alarm came closer, rang louder. It reminded her of what was at stake. He wanted her inside his head because then he could be inside her head. And he’d do anything to get what he wanted. She reared back from him, pushing him away. She hadn’t meant to but she hit out with the force, hard and fast. His head snapped sideways.   

“No. That’s the dark side,” she shouted.

When he turned back his eyes burned and his jaw clenched. She could feel the raging emotions he held in check. He gripped her arm and pulled her back to him.

“You really should stop that Rey. It’s going to get you into trouble,” he snarled. Rey lifted her chin in defiance at his tone in spite of the surge of guilt. She’d told herself she wasn’t going to use the force in that way but she could feel a bad habit starting to form. She took a breath and tried to find some calm in the storm of emotions that were rising and falling, both from her and from Kylo.

They stared at each other. The rain was getting less but their faces still dripped. She watched a droplet course down over his scar and bead on his lip. His hair a wet mess of fine dark whips that curved about his face. One large hand held onto the driftwood log and the other slid down to her wrist and held it against his chest. It might have been a tender gesture if it wasn’t so untrustworthy. She tried to pull away but he held onto her.

“We both want to know what the other knows,” he said. That was true.

“I’m not going to invade your mind and I’m not going to let you in mine,” she said. “You want more than what I know.”

A dark look from him sent a shiver up her spine. Or maybe it was the water they were in. She was losing heat and there was no sun.

“We need to get out of the water,” Kylo said. He let go of her hand and hauled himself up on the log in one fluid movement. She wondered that his large body could be so lithe. He turned to offer his hand but she ignored it, clambering up on the log in a less graceful fashion, emptying her satchel of water.

Rey insisted they sit at either end of the log, away from each other. Whatever strange connection they were feeling here lost in the middle of the ocean didn’t take away the fact they were still enemies. The sun started to peek through the clouds and Rey began to feel warm in the extra clothing she had on. She pulled off the borrowed lieutenant’s uniform as best as she could without rocking the driftwood log too much. Kylo left his knight’s robes where they were.

She sat back down turning her back to him. It didn’t work. She was still intensely aware of him within an arm’s reach away. She felt rather than saw him look up at the sky.

“You know they’re not coming,” she said to him. He was silent. “That was laser cannon fire we heard before, not thunder and lightning. My guess is someone shot down your rescue shuttle.”

He said nothing. She turned to look at him and found him sitting with legs crossed on the log, hands cupped and resting lightly on his legs, elbows on his knees and his head bowed. His emotions were calm, at least to start with. Rey figured she should probably get some meditation in as well and sat, closed her eyes and breathed and ran through some calming exercises. She felt the sun on her body, heard the water about her, restless and lapping against the log. She drew on the force to create calm. Then she let her mind flow towards the vision and Kylo’s memory.

Frustration buffeted her through the force. Rey’s eyes popped open. Kylo struggled to keep his patience and then gave up. He rocked back letting out an exasperated breath. Rey turned and watched him over her shoulder. He caught her watching him and glared. She turned away and he did too. Rey couldn’t tell how long they sat like that.

Rey’s mind eventually returned to what Kylo had revealed. She remembered being left on Jakku to wait for her family. He remembered her brother, a Knight of Ren, trying to kill her, not on Jakku. Rey felt no real anger or grief about Eli’s death. In her mind it didn’t happen. It couldn’t have happened. And yet.

“Eli wouldn’t try and kill me,” Rey said. “You must be mistaken.”

Kylo didn’t answer at first but then he took a breath and turned around. The log rocked a little but Rey used the force to keep her balance. He sat close behind her but didn’t touch her. His legs hung down either side of the log, his hands on his thighs, while she sat on top of it, her arms clasping her knees to her chest. She thought about telling him to turn around and go back to sitting facing away from her. She didn’t for fear that would place a barrier between them that wouldn’t be helpful right now. When he spoke his voice was close to her ear and she nearly jumped.

“Eli wasn’t a good brother Rey. He resented you for being there. He blamed you for his failures.”

Rey felt a stab of rejection that brought a sting to her eyes. Eli had been the one she’d looked up to. He was always off with their father doing important things and she had wanted to go with him. 

“Why don’t I remember any of this?”

Kylo was silent. Rey frowned. Why would he know?

Tell me it’s not true Grandfather.

There was no answer. He didn’t always answer. He was not at her beck and call. Still, this was important.

Please Grandfather, tell me, is Eli dead.

There was no response.

“I don’t know why you don’t remember but it happened,” Kylo said. Rey could feel he was concealing something.

“You don’t want to tell me.”

“Luke should have told you,” he said, a note of accusation in his voice. She told herself she hadn’t tried hard enough to ask Luke. But they had looked at the vision. To Luke’s credit he had steered her towards understanding the vision herself and not just expecting her to take his word for it. Still, hurt stabbed her heart. This was important.

Grandfather, why didn’t Luke tell me? Still there was no answer. Her world began to shake.

Please.

“Who are you trying to talk to,” Kylo said.

Rey froze. Her hackles rose and she put up what barriers to her mind that she could, something she still had to perfect.

“Are you still in my head?” she demanded.

“No but this close to you it’s hard not to overhear at least some of your thoughts when they’re so loud.”

Rey turned again and realised he was very close to her now. She could just feel his breath on the back of her neck. She crept forward a little in an attempt to put a bit more distance between them.

“You should stay in the middle so we don’t destabilise the log,” he said. Rey’s back straightened, causing the log to bob just a little.

“If you weren’t so close I wouldn’t have to move down this end,” she said. They were silent again. Kylo moved back to give her more room. She allowed herself some gratitude and returned to her original spot where it was more comfortable. She let her legs fall either side of the log, the cool of the water on her feet and legs helping in the heat from the sun. It was more comfortable like this but there was also more potential for contact with Kylo. With their bodies aligned there were only a few hand spans between them.

Rey began to feel thirsty. She looked about but couldn’t see land. She started to wish Kylo’s hoped for rescue mission had come true.

“Were you talking to Luke,” he said behind her. Rey scowled, was he still thinking about that.

“No.”

They sat there silent again, her throat dry. She swallowed and closed her eyes, reducing her movements and slowing her breathing.

“I know you can hear me when I call to you in the force,” he said. Rey didn’t reply but she felt her every sense was now attuned to him. His voice, the deep soft timbre of it, did something to her.

“Do you want me to talk to you that way,” he said. His voice was low and close to her ear. Her heart rate went back up as she realised he’d moved closer again.

“No,” she replied. She was amazed to hear her voice sound so unfamiliar. She tried to calm her heart rate again.

“Who do you talk to?” he whispered in her ear. She thought she felt his fingers skim across her shoulder where a strand of her hair had come free and was now floating in the breeze. A gentle touch on the tips of both her shoulders confirmed it. The barest touch and yet it sent electricity through her.

“Who?”

“My grandfather.”  

_Rey_

Her eyes snapped open and her body stiffened. She realised he was so close they nearly touched along the length of their bodies. His hands were gently resting on her shoulders. He pulled them away. She spun and glared at him. He was glaring at her.

She jumped up on the log and he did the same, balancing as they glared at each other. His height gave him an advantage but she didn’t let that intimidate her. She pointed a finger at him, waving it only a few inches from his nose.

“You snake. You were just trying to get information out of me.”

A muscle in his jaw flickered. A flash of jealousy through the force caught her off guard but it disappeared as quickly as it came. A smirk pulled at his mouth, making him look even more dangerous.

“And it worked. You speak to your grandfather, Obi-Wan Kenobi,” he snarled. She moved back on the log just a little. She felt a bitter surge within her. He had inveigled something very important out of her and it hurt.

“So! You want to be in my head so much then maybe you two could have chat. He could tell you a thing or two.”

_Rey, no._

Kylo’s fists clenched and his eyes darkened. A wave of jealous rage hit her through the force like a wall, taking her breath away. His mouth curled back in a snarl, his eyes narrowed and his hands looked about ready to tear her apart.

“Your grandfather speaks to you.”

Rey felt her mouth open in shock. This was what he was mad about. He looked up.

“A Kenobi can speak to his grandchild but a Skywalker can’t.”

Rey’s mouth dropped open further. Pain and confusion mixed with the fury in him. He looked back at her.

“Why?” There was anger but also a note of lost desperation in his voice, raw and heartfelt.

Why, she echoed the word to her grandfather.

Kylo looked at her as if expecting an answer. There was none. She shook her head.

She could see his jaw working again as though he were gritting his teeth. A wall came up about his emotions and his face became impassive. The only thing that hinted at the intensity of emotion still inside him was the darkness in his eyes. Rey felt the hair on the back of her neck prickle and goose bumps rise up on her arms. 

“It was always you. The favourite. Even Uncle Luke favoured you.”

Rey stared at him in shock. What was that supposed to mean? He sounded like a boy and yet the man before her was ready to kill her.

Her mind was seared with pain as he tried to reach in against her will. She pushed him out and hit him hard with the force. He quashed her blow and he pushed into her mind again. In terror she stepped back, destabilising the log then hit out with so much violence she knocked him off the log.

He roared as he fell into the water, a splash engulfing him. He came up spitting but reached for the log and wrenched himself up out of the water onto the log again. Rey had her lightsabre in her hand and ignited it. As he stood he pulled his lightsabre and ignited it as well but the dunking had taken the passion out of him. He breathed, water dripping from him. They stared at each other. He lowered his lightsabre.

“We’re being stupid,” he said. She lifted an eyebrow in query.

“We’re being stupid?” He retracted his lightsabre and gave her a bitter smile.

“I’m being stupid.”

The sound of blaster fire and a shout came to them both. They hadn’t been watching, so engrossed in their own world. They turned towards it and saw land.


	14. Chapter 14

They were still a way from the shore so it was hard to make out everything about the figures on the beach. A Stormtrooper was on the run followed by three figures, one in black and the other two in red and black, all carrying blasters. The Stormtrooper spun and took a shot then kept running. The three pursuers dodged and returned fire, one of them catching the Stormtrooper in the leg. They watched as the pursuers caught up to the limping Stormtrooper and brought the black and white figure down with another blaster shot, this time in the back near the shoulder.

Rey heard Kylo growl and turned to see him clenching his fists and his jaw as he watched the scene play out on the beach.

“You don’t know what’s really going on there,” Rey said.

“I know that one of my own is about to be slaughtered,” he snarled.

“What if they’re just defending themselves from being slaughtered by Stormtroopers,” Rey said.

“You said yourself that the shuttle must have been shot down. Now whoever is on that beach is going to kill one of my Stormtroopers.”

“You care about a Stormtrooper,” she said. He turned to her, his eyes cold.

“I care about my own,” he said.

Rey could have argued with that but decided now was not the time. A far away scream brought their attention back to the beach. The pursuers had taken the helmet off the Stormtrooper and from the length of the hair Rey could see the trooper was female. She remembered Finn once said that male Stormtroopers had short back and side haircuts while the females were allowed slightly longer cuts.

The black clad pursuer held a blaster to her head as the other two dragged her away, her screams reaching them on the light breeze when she fell on her leg or as they wrenched her arm on the side she’d been shot.

Rey felt her anger rise as the pursuers continued to hurt the woman. Rey looked harder at the pursuers. They wore red and black battle gear that reminded Rey of something but she couldn’t think of what. One thing she was certain of though.

“They’re not Resistance,” she said. Kylo turned to her, a frown on his face. She said nothing, just kept her eyes on the beach.

“They’re criminals then,” Kylo snapped. “The aim of the First Order is to rid the galaxy of this sort of scum.”

Rey nodded. “The Resistance and the Republic would like to see them gone too.”

“So are you going to help me rescue my Stormtroopers from these criminals and do our best to rid the galaxy of them.”

Rey turned to him, mouth open. “What! Hey, I never said…”

“Do you want to help that woman and stop her from being sold into slavery or not.”

“Well, yes but…”

“Then we agree. We’re going to go in there and rescue them from those criminals.”

Rey was speechless. There was no way she was going to help the First Order or their murderers. She glared at him and ground her teeth at his high handedness but then she thought of Finn and sighed. There were real people beneath that black and white armour.  

The log rose and then fell. Waves were beginning to rise as they drew closer to shore. The pit of Rey’s stomach fell and he knees wobbled. She hated waves. Swimming in relatively calm water was one thing but waves were not her friends. She looked about for something more stable but there was nothing.

“We can ride the log in on the waves,” Kylo said. Rey coughed and stared at him, her mouth falling open. Was he serious?

“These waves are small. I’m sure you can use the force to keep your balance,” he said. She looked down at the log and the blue green water and back up at him. A smile played at the corner of his mouth. She glared at him.

“Ok, just hold onto me,” he said.

“I’d rather swim for it.” He crossed his arms and looked down at her from his full height as though he were looking at a tiresome child. She wanted to slap him but resisted the urge. The log rose and fell again, unsettling her. The crash when the wave fell after it passed them didn’t fill her with enthusiasm. She moved closer as he found a stable position on the log and she extended a tentative hand towards him. Placing her hands willingly on his back felt strange. She almost fell backwards when he reached around and moved her hands to the side of his waist where she could get a better grip. His body was broad and strong and he felt solid under her touch. In spite of her misgivings it was not an unpleasant experience holding on to him. Rey took a breath and told herself not to get excited, he was still the enemy.

Rey didn’t know how she managed it. The wave hadn’t been that big when it caught up to them and shunted them along. Kylo had used the force to push them along as well. Rey had used the force for balance. They dropped down and everything seemed to be fine. Then the log bumped and rolled and Rey felt her stomach flip. Her balance was gone and she tipped backwards, letting go of Kylo. She plunged down under the water, white wash all around her, tumbling over and over until she had no idea which way was up.

For the second time she was pulled out of the water by Kylo. Coughing and spluttering and struggling while he felt like a rock of safety. Her hands reached and grabbed, one on his upper arm, the other buried in the fabric covering his chest. Her feet touched the bottom and she found a place to stand. She coughed again. He held her steady, his hands on her waist. She wiped water from her eyes and wet hair from her face.

“Thank you,” she said and looked up at him. There was a mix of concern and amusement on his face. She could feel her face start to warm.

“It seems I officially stink at wave riding.”

“No-one stays on the first time,” he said.

“You did,” she grumbled.

“That’s not the first time I’ve ridden a wave.”

Rey looked up at him. She just couldn’t imagine it.

“My parents were always sending me off to some holiday camp because they were too busy to have me at home.”

There was no bitterness in his words. He was just stating a fact. It sounded lonely. She reminded herself that if she could have been that lonely then her childhood would’ve been a lot happier than it was. She told herself she’d survived and found family enough with Finn and Luke and the others.

Rey realised his hands were still on her waist and he was looking down at her, his expression attentive and gentle. She was mesmerised for a moment at how beautiful he was without that haunted and hardened look in his eyes. As if it was the most natural thing in the world he reached up and brushed a stray hair from across her lips with the tips of his fingers. It felt as though his fingers were made of fire, sending heat and electricity through her. Her sharp intake of breath caused him to pause. The bump in his throat rose and fell and his gaze grew hot as he watched her mouth. He followed his fingers with a deliberate stroke of his thumb, tracing her lower lip with the pad of his thumb as the tip skimmed across her upper lip.

Rey was gripped by a shiver of delight and she stepped back in confusion and fright, breaking their contact. He blinked and let his hands fall to his side. Rey breathed in a shaky breath and sucked in her bottom lip to quell the tingling sensation that still lingered there. A wave rushed past them and Rey stepped sideways to steady herself. Kylo’s hand came up as though he meant to steady her but when she found her footing he let his hand drop again.

“Come on,” he said. He turned to wade through the milling water as another wave tumbled towards them. Rey watched him in a daze as he walked away. Another wave surged past and broke the spell.  She hurried to catch up to him and stay ahead of the next wave. She was glad it didn’t catch her until it could only splash about her shins as she didn’t feel very steady on her feet right now.

They took the route that the criminals had taken with the Stormtrooper up over the dunes into the forest behind. The vegetation closed around them, cutting off the sound of the beach. Tall ringed trunks rose up about them interspersed with large deep green leaves and other strappy paler green fronds. Rey was always amazed by thick verdant vegetation. She usually took the time to soak in the green of any forest, wondering what it would be like to live in a forest all her own. Except today her eyes were fixed on the dark figure in front of her more than the green world around her. Her mind kept replaying those moments when he ran his thumb across her lips. Her foot caught on a tree root and she stumbled. Kylo stopped and turned to her, an enquiring look on his face. She smiled, perhaps a bit too brightly and waited for him to move on. She thought she heard a soft snort from him as one side of his mouth twitched before he kept going. She scowled at his back. She decided she better employ a calming exercise before she tripped and fell flat on her face.

It was easy to see the footsteps and the drag marks and follow them through the forest. The group didn’t expect to be discovered with no thought to concealing their tracks. The smell of acrid smoke greeted them first. The forest opened ahead of them and the nose of a shuttle, its windows cracked, flattened the vegetation about it. There had been a fire that had damaged the shuttle and some of the surrounding vegetation.

Their investigations found one dead Stormtrooper, possibly killed in the crash, but no others. Rey helped Kylo move the body back into the shuttle where it would have some protection from the jungle. Kylo looked through the shuttle storage and found some rations and clean water. Rey was glad for the clean water but when she looked at the plastic packets of green and brown rations she felt a pang of dismay.

“They’re not so bad you know,” Kylo said, a note of chastisement in his voice.

Rey looked up at him and scowled as he opened a green ration and began to chew on it.

“I know exactly what they taste like. I used to trade engine parts for these things. It was almost all I ate growing up.”

He stopped chewing and looked down at her, his expression a mix of sadness and astonishment. Rey huffed and grabbed one of the brown packets, shaking off any feelings of self-pity. You didn’t survive in a place like Jakku by being negative about your situation.

“It’s more than some people get. I survived just fine,” she said. 

She opened the packet carefully at the top and poured some water in, swished it with her finger then watched as the powder congealed and expanded up out the top of the packet. Kylo watched in surprise as she turned it upside down and shook the bread roll into the palm of her hand.

“You make that look so easy.”

Rey laughed as she looked up at him. She broke the roll and gave him half. He watched her as he took it, an unreadable expression on his face. Rey looked down, her face feeling a little warm. They ate in silence for a short while but then it was time to move on.

There were more unconcealed tracks that lead off into the jungle. They followed these until they came across a small stream.

_Follow the stream up the mountain._

Rey stopped.

Grandfather! She stood still but she heard nothing more.

Kylo stopped and looked at her, his expression unreadable. Rey pointed up the stream. His lips pressed together and his fist half clenched then relaxed but he nodded and they followed the stream up the mountain.

It was a rocky climb but once they neared the top they had a good view of the landscape in front of them. Rey’s jaw dropped and her eyes widened at what she saw.

It was a jungle military style installation of neither First Order nor Republic or Resistance origin. A bunker entrance sat between a landing platform for small spacecraft on one side and a bank of laser cannon on the other. A small clearing in front of the bunker was occupied by a small group of red and black battle troops. They circled the Stormtrooper, blasters at ready. They were joined from the bunker by another black clad man that Rey thought she recognised. Actually the whole group was beginning to look familiar now. Her mind travelled to a freighter in space lousy with rathtars and an old man with a roguish look and a charming smile. She closed her eyes and let the memory rest. She could not let it upset her now. She took a deep breath.

“Guavians,” she murmured.

Kylo looked at her, his eyes narrowing a little.

“I won’t ask you how you know that.” She kept her eyes focussed on the scene below. How she knew that was the last thing she was going to talk with him about.

Rey spotted something else not immediately visible. Directly below them in the lee of the mountain were a series of cages. They were all filled with people. Many were in civilian clothes but there was one cage with three black and white armoured figures and one larger chrome clad figure. Oddly, they were all missing their helmets. As Rey looked closer Rey noticed one other thing. They were all female.

She tapped Kylo’s shoulder and pointed down at the cages. His gaze darkened as he realised the same thing she had.

“As I thought, slavers.” Rey felt anger rise inside. She didn’t care how common slavery was, it was a hateful thing.

“Where are the rest of them?” Rey said. “Surely there would be more than a few female Stormtroopers.” They looked about but there was no sign of any other Stormtroopers. Rey had a sick feeling about what might have been done with the male Stormtroopers. The look on Kylo’s face and the feeling she got from him through the force told her he was thinking the same thing.

The captured Stormtrooper was dragged across to the cage where the other Stormtroopers were. Captain Phasma stood and approached the door. One of the red and black clad figures held up a blaster and aimed it at her bare head. She stood back as the cage was opened and the Stormtrooper thrown inside. Phasma caught the trooper and lowered her to the ground but kept her eyes on their captors. The black clad figure laughed at her and made a rude gesture. Phasma didn’t react. The black clad figure laughed again but turned away and they headed towards the bunker.

Rey saw one last cage a short distance from the others. In it stood a lone woman dressed in green robes.

She pointed Kylo’s gaze to her. They looked at her and each other, a frown on Kylo’s face.

“Is she Jedi,” Rey said aloud.

“I don’t think so,” Kylo said.

“Then who?”

Kylo scowled. “A heretic,” he said.

“A what?”

“I think she’s a heretic. They believe some strange things,” he said.

Rey looked at him. “People believe lots of strange things.” Kylo ignored her pointed comment. He shook his head.

“Not like them,” he said.

“Is she dangerous?” Rey said, wondering if that was perhaps the reason she was caged alone.

Kylo shrugged. “Depends how you define dangerous.”

“Someone who injures or kills people,” Rey said. Kylo grimaced.

“In that case, no she’s not dangerous.”

They watched for a while as the majority of the Guavians filed back inside the bunker, leaving only two guards on duty.

“Do you think they know the First Order is here,” Rey said. Kylo nodded.

“Yes but from what I hear the Guavians are not easily intimidated.”

“So what’s the plan,” Rey said. Kylo grinned in a way that could have frozen a hot cup of uchina.

“Free the prisoners and kill as many Guavians as we can.”

Rey stared at him, her skin prickling. She didn’t know why she should be surprised. Just because he’d shown a gentler side to her didn’t mean Kylo Ren had disappeared. He was still a killer.

They picked their way down the slope, being careful not to disturb any rocks that could fall and announce their presence.

Rey angled straight for the prisoners in their cages. Kylo skirted around so he could ambush the two guards. Rey knew she was going to have to escape along with the other women. Phasma and the Stormtroopers would stay with Kylo but he was still her enemy. She wasn’t going to be dragged back to Snoke, whatever feelings she might have for Kylo.

Rey stopped in her tracks. Was she serious? She did not have feelings for that murderous fiend. She shook her head. She definitely had to get away from him and as soon as these women were free she was gone.

Rey lost sight of Kylo as she sank down into the vegetation behind the cages. The closest cage was the one with the heretic in it. Rey could see that her green robes were torn and dusty. Her skin was pale but reddening from the sun, her hair was dark but mussed from most likely the same treatment that had ruined her robes. There was also a scratch on her cheekbone. Rey crept closer, assessing the situation and reaching out with the force.

The heretic turned as though she had felt Rey in the force, which was odd because Rey could not feel her. The woman looked directly at Rey and her face, tense at first softened into relief. She pointed to the lock on the cage. Rey could see that it was standard electronic fare designed to keep most people without sophisticated breaking equipment out. Not designed to resist lightsabres though. Rey looked for the guards. The sound of a lightsabre cutting through the lock would alert them to her presence.

The local women in the next cage had noticed her presence now and there were some murmurs and gasps. The heretic held a finger to her lips and the other women quietened. Rey couldn’t help being touched by the looks of hope that spread through the faces in the cage.

There was a gasp as a dark figure emerged from the vegetation near one of the guards. The guard turned quickly, firing a shot. Kylo dodged it, lunged in and rammed his lightsabre through the guard. Rey was shocked at first but realised this was her opportunity. She ignited her lightsabre and slashed the lock on the first cage and it fell open. She ran to the next cage and slashed the lock on that one as well. The women didn’t need an invitation to exit the cage. Kylo had the other guard in close quarters now, his lightsabre swinging as blaster bolts barked but the second guard was putting up more of a fight. Rey didn’t lose any time. She ran to the third cage with the Stormtroopers and slashed through the lock.

Phasma and the uninjured Stormtroopers were already on their feet. Rey and Phasma looked at each other for a moment then Rey turned and headed back towards the other fleeing women. Many of them had already fled into the jungle. Rey ran after them until she noticed a problem. The heretic wasn’t heading towards the jungle. Instead she was running towards the bunker entrance.

“Where are you going,” Rey yelled. “Escape is that way.” Rey pointed to the jungle. The woman shook her head.

“They have something very important of mine. If I don’t get it back…I have to get it back.”

“It can’t be that important to risk your life for,” Rey said.

“If I don’t get it back I’ll be risking more than my life,” she said and kept going. On instinct Rey turned to follow her.

There was a sickening thunk and crackle followed by two thuds then silence as Kylo caught the second guard out and sliced him in two. Both women stopped as he turned and spotted them. Rey knew she had stayed too long.


	15. Chapter 15

General Hux watched the red haired woman making final adjustments to the new installations on his command deck. Replacing the ruined ones from Kylo Ren’s rampage with the stowaway had wasted precious time. His meeting with the Dastronian representative was only minutes away and he needed to know why Captain Phasma had not yet returned with Kylo Ren and the stowaway. He assumed the stowaway was still making trouble but he didn’t want to take that for granted. There had been strange readings from the planet but the one console that provided full feedback on the planetary scans had been the worst damaged.

It bugged Hux that his cousin continued to ignore his presence. If anyone could hold a grudge she could. It was not his fault what had happened to Graydon.

Kari snapped a cover down, stood and stepped back.

“All finished General,” she said, her voice quiet, respectful, removed.

“Thank you cousin,” he said. She turned and glared at him. Her fiery gaze catching him off guard, reminding him of when they were children and she’d given him a black eye.

“I’d prefer you not engage in familiarity of any kind General,” she hissed. Hux ground his teeth for a moment but let her remark go and nodded.

“Very well. Thank you technician. That will be all.” Hux watched her go, not looking at the officer who took her place.

Hux allowed himself some regret for his cousins. Kari, so full of promise but without the drive. Her brother Graydon was ambitious but incautious. Hux’ own career path had allowed him to protect them in some things but Graydon had gone too far. His disappearance wasn’t unexpected.

“Sir, scans show a crash site not far from one of their military installations,” the officer said. Hux drew closer.

“The crash site, is it ours.”

“Yes.”

Hux gritted his teeth. “Do the scans show the reason it came down?” The technician tapped at the console and analysed scan results. Hux felt his stomach begin to churn. Something wasn’t right.

“Sir I believe there is evidence of laser cannon fire.” Hux stepped closer to look at the screen. Dastron was an entrenched First Order world. That was one of the reasons why the fleet replacements were being built here. A hostile response to their appearance was unacceptable. Perhaps the Resistance had gained greater hold than anticipated.

“Is there evidence of Resistance activity,” Hux said, raising his voice to include others who could focus on the search.

“Sir, the latest update on Resistance activity in this system doesn’t include the central Dastron planet,” one officer said.

“I believe there is an increased level of armed personnel around the three military installations on Dastron,” another said.

“They do not appear to be either First Order or Republic.”

“Sir, the main factory area and storage hangars for the fleet rebuild have been greatly militarised. This has changed since our first appearance in the system.”

Hux glared out the viewing windows at the planet below.

“What the hell is going on down there?” he muttered.

“Sir I have a communication from the Geldon at the rear of our fleet.” Hux raised an eyebrow.

“Sir they say they have experienced a power failure and need to dock at a nearby space station for technical support.” Hux nodded. “Keep me apprised.” He thought no more of it.

“Sir, the Dastronian Representative is available now.”

Hux strode towards the holo-conference room. A holo-image of a man of average height and average looks appeared as Hux stepped up to the meeting circle. However, there was nothing average about his dress. He wore a long deep red velvet robe with a high gold trimmed collar, gold belt and oversized gold trimmed cuffs. Gold designs were embroidered on the robe. He was festooned with jewels and gold chains and wore gold buckled shoes. Hux hoped his own spare military uniform made the man feel overdressed because that’s how it looked to him.

“I am Lord Zhark Demos, Dastronian Representative,” the man intoned in a pompous voice. Hux observed the man’s overall demeanour. Lord Demos lifted his head in a hint of arrogant defiance but his fingers were tightly interlaced in front of him. His face had that trained diplomatic look of welcome but his shoulders were tense. For once Hux wished that Ren was at his side. His dark presence always provoked fear but more than that, he would have liked to know what the dark apprentice could read from this man.

“General Hux, First Order,” Hux bit out, purposely inflecting a harsh note to each word. To his credit, Zhark Demos remained as he was.

“Welcome General. We are honoured to receive a visit from the Supreme Leader’s representative, however, could I enquire as to the nature of your visit.”

“I am here to oversee the final stages of our order and to follow up on reports of Resistance activity.”

Zhark Demos practiced a delicate laugh as though such concerns were unwarranted.

“General, I can assure you your fleet will be completed soon with all of the specifications the First Order required. As for the Resistance, let’s just say, we have been dealing with that very small problem. A few stray miscreants, no more.”

Hux wasn’t so sure. The military build-up that had been observed said otherwise.

“Dastron Industries is a month behind schedule Lord Demos. I think you do require some oversite to ensure the fleet is ready as required. The First Order also has credible reports that the Resistance is targeting this system. We will be providing a military presence at your construction yards and each of your military installations.”

Zhark Demos had been growing steadily more alarmed as Hux spoke, in spite of the fixed smile on his face.

“General, I can assure you that…” Hux cut him off with a dismissive hand. He wasn’t in the mood for diplomatic protestations.

“A shuttle from my ship was sent to conduct a preliminary scan of your installations. Our scans indicate it crashed somewhere near the equator.”

Zhark Demos placed a hand on his chest as feigned surprise covered the real alarm on his face.

“I have not been informed of such an event. General, I will send out a search party immediately to ensure they’re rescued. The tropical regions of our planet can be treacherous with storms and other strange weather phenomena.”

Hux lip curled up into a sneer as he watched the obsequious display of concern. Zhark Demos was covering for something.

“We know where it is, we have no need of your search party. We will be sending our own troops to retrieve our personnel.”

A sharp look in Zhark Demos’ eye caught Hux attention for a moment but then it was gone, replaced by another fawning display of helpfulness.

“General, I must insist that you allow one of our search parties to go instead. As I said, there can be strange weather phenomena around the equator. I would not wish to inflict upon the First Order a second loss for want of local knowledge that could get off-worlders into trouble.” Hux maintained an impassive stance.

“Does that strange weather phenomena also include the use of a laser cannon.”

Zhark Demos looked openly unsettled for the first time since their discussion had started.

“You must be mistaken General. As I said, there can be strange weather phenomena…”

“I have no further patience for your explanations Lord Demos. I find them completely unsatisfactory. I will be sending down a military presence immediately.”

Hux cut the connection and strode from the room.

“Captain Rikins, you will oversee the deployment of Stormtroopers to the surface and ensure any military forces already on the planet either fall into line with First Order command or are destroyed. Captain Chodera, array the fleet in a standard blockade and prepare to return planetary fire. If someone down there takes even a pistol shot at us I want to make an example of them.”  

 

 

Poe almost skidded the Falcon into orbit around the dwarf planet near the periphery of the Dastron system making sure he didn’t come in too close to the main planet. The last thing they needed was to attract attention by popping up next to a First Order destroyer.

The first thing he saw was the nearby space station, a standard issue mining exporter orbiting the dwarf planet. Ahead the First Order fleet was arrayed across the system. Poe had snuck up behind them but traffic was low this far out and so they stood out. A smaller First Order cruiser at the back of the fleet turned their way.

“Busted,” Poe hissed under his breath. Chewie growled and Poe did his best to fly like he was somehow supposed to be there.

“Chewie prepare to get us out of here if needed.” Chewie grumbled but started flicking switches.

“I don’t think you’ll need to,” Imri said. Poe ignored her at first, concentrating on the scene ahead.

“I changed the Falcon’s signature to look First Order compliant.” Now she had Poe’s attention.

“You did what.” Chewie next to him huffed in surprise.

“Not so hard when you know some of the First Order codes.”

“And how do you know First Order codes,” Poe demanded. Imri smirked.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” she said.

Chewie made a threatening snarl. Imri threw her hands in the air.

“Alright, keep your hair on.” Chewie tilted his head in the same way Poe raised an eyebrow.

“Just because I was in jail doesn’t mean I sat in a cell and did nothing. The First Order only kept me there so I wouldn’t disappear on them.” She laughed. “Too bad Luke Skywalker turned up. I wouldn’t want to be the person telling Hux his hacker left home.”

“No,” Poe muttered just as Luke made his way to the cabin.

A light flickered in the communication array. Poe knew it was a hail from the First Order cruiser. He was tempted to ignore it but it would look even more suspicious if he did. He flicked a switch and the barked command from the cruiser to identify themselves grated across their airwaves.

“Tell them we’re bringing in new mining crew for the space station,” Luke said. Poe sent a signal to the cruiser as he queried his database about the space station. Poe could see Imri working at her keyboard but didn’t have time to look at what she was doing. Luke moved to stand behind her for a moment but didn’t seem concerned.

“Small freighter, please state your business.” The communication from the First Oder was typically short and to the point.

Poe gave them their destination and their purpose.

“We will need to do an inspection before you land. Prepare to be tractored in and to receive an inspection party.”

Poe was about to give Chewie the signal to make a run for it but Luke tapped him on the shoulder and nodded. Poe looked at Chewie, who shrugged and began flicking switches to shut down propulsion. Poe hesitated for a moment but decided they would probably live longer this way.

“Happy to receive an inspection party, sir,” Poe said into the comm. He looked around. Apart from a crew of Resistance fighters, a First Order escapee and a Jedi Master, Poe was sure there was nothing on the Falcon the First Order would want. He looked at BB-8, he still had the map in his system but that was a moot point these days.

“I hope the First Order is being particularly credible today. If not I’d say we’re about to end up in their brig awaiting execution.” Poe had been in this situation before and it felt no better this time round.

The falcon lurched and shook as the tractor beam locked onto it. Poe’s stomach lurched as well but he breathed in and gritted his teeth until the initial terror gave way to clearer thought. That’s when he noticed Imri had another smirk on her face. He turned to her and pinned her down with his most severe stare.

“Okay. Out with it,” he said. She looked startled for a moment then grinned.

“Nothing,” she said. He maintained eye contact with her but said nothing.

“Alright, Mr Grumpy face.” Poe gritted his teeth again but this time it was to stop himself from laughing at her miffed expression. Luke had found a comfortable wall to lean on.

“I just gave BB-8 a computer virus,” Imri said. Poe scowled as his pulse rose. He looked at his little droid and then at her. He breathed in again to make sure he was calm.

“I warned you not to harm my droid.” Imri held up her hands, waving them frantically.

“No, no. I didn’t infect BB-8. I just put it on a stick for him so he could deliver it to the First Order.”

Poe relaxed in his seat and folded his arms across his chest.

“And this virus does what exactly,” he said. Imri’s eyes widened and Poe noticed that the scar across her nose paled a little, looking more prominent on her face. She chewed her lip for a moment then took a breath.

“It shuts down their central power system for ten seconds and then reboots it to half power. Makes it look like the ship is experiencing power supply problems.”

Poe pursed his lips. “You’re hoping they will be too busy with their own problems to inspect us fully and will send us on our way.” Imri folded her arms and raised her chin. Poe shrugged and shook his head. He lacked any other ideas so this was it.

The plan mostly worked. Somehow Luke managed to convince them they were just a bunch of miners on their way to the space station. BB-8 eventually managed to sneak off and find a computer terminal but only after Imri picked a fight with the Lieutenant commanding the search as a distraction. To everyone’s relief the power went down before the Stormtroopers dragged Imri off to the brig. There was general alarm in the darkness until the lights came back on and the startled crew worked feverishly to find out the problem. The cruiser captain decided to dock his ship at the space station to carry out repairs.

“You can wait on your ship,” the Lieutenant said. Poe scowled and waved an impatient hand around.

“That’s fine for you but I’m only here to drop these two off. I’m not supposed to hang around,” Poe said. The officer looked down his nose at Poe.

“You can go when the checks are complete,” the officer said.

“Or when you can get the hangar doors open again,” Poe muttered. The officer’s back went ramrod stiff.

“You’ll go when we’re ready to let you go.”

Another officer hurried up to the Lieutenant. They moved away a little but not quite far enough. Their lowered voices were still audible.

“Sir, we’ll be moving towards the main planet soon and taking up a blockade position.”

The Lieutenant huffed and looked back at Poe and the others.

“Are we still docking at the space station for checks?”

“Eer…” the second officer put his hand to a small microphone in his ear. “Apparently yes. We can’t go into a possible assault situation on half power.”

The Lieutenant checked with the inspection team.

The power went down again. This time there was less drama but the crew continued to check consoles and conduits. Imri waved BB-8 away from the computer terminal the droid was plugged into and it rolled casually back to Poe’s side. A member of the inspection crew emerged from the Falcon indicating that there was no-one else on board. The Lieutenant called the team away to other tasks.

Poe leaned over to Luke.

“Maz sent a contact who can help us. Not Resistance exactly but not supporters of the First Order. We’re looking for someone called Solia Demos.”

Luke nodded. Poe stopped talking as an officer walked past. They watched the activity as the crew prepared to dock with the space station.

“We’re supposed to meet them on Dastron.” There was the sound of a claxon alarm and then the deep groan of metal slotting into metal on a large scale. There was a shudder through the ship as its inertia met the bulk of the space station and then it was quiet. A doorway at the end of the hangar hissed open as the interlocked doors depressurised and opened to the atmosphere on the other side. Two officers and a small squad of Stormtroopers filed in ready to secure the space station side of the docking area.

Before any First Order troops or officers could make their way through the door blaster fire came from the space station side, knocking down several Stormtroopers and taking out a docking console and sending smoke and debris scattering across the hangar. A horde of shouting, guerrilla style fighters, blasters firing stormed through, pushing frightened officers and technicians out of the way. The group was well armed and well trained. There was a brief and rapid exchange of fire between the armed intruders and First Order officers and Stormtroopes but it was obvious the group had used their advantage of surprise well. Those who were not injured or disarmed were soon outnumbered.

Poe and the others headed for the Falcon, not wanting to get caught up in the melee. Except for Luke. Poe froze as the Jedi stepped towards the fight. Chewie had scooted up the ramp and was now back with his bowcaster. He stood behind Luke, his weapon at the ready. Poe stepped back towards Luke and Chewie, making up a trio. Imri on the other hand stayed up on the ramp with BB-8 where she could look out at what was happening.

What was happening was that a militia group were hijacking the cruiser. Poe had no idea how they knew they would be docking here. Was this opportunistic or had Imri somehow alerted them to their presence. Whatever was going on it didn’t take them long to secure the hangar. Officers and Stormtroopers alike were disarmed and forced to kneel in a group at the centre of the hangar.

None of the militia made a move towards the Falcon or the three figures standing nearby. Apart from a few brief looks, the group ignored them and concentrated on capturing the First Order crew. Poe wondered if Luke had somehow made them invisible.

There was a buzzing sound that grew louder then cut out.

“Their communications are jammed,” someone yelled.

Poe tried to count up the number of militia. He guessed about twelve to fifteen fighters carrying blasters and other weapons. About eight militia surrounded the First Order captives in the centre of the hangar while several others hurried a few stragglers in to join the other captives. Poe figured there would still be bridge and engine crew to deal with but they could be counted on his hands. There were few Stormtroopers on this smaller cruiser and he suspected most of them were in the hangar, ready for docking at the time the ship was taken.

There was a pause as though they were waiting for something. Two militia re-emerged from the main corridor leading from the hangar. They both signalled the group.

A tall authoritative man who appeared to have some kind of rank in the group yelled out to the external door.  

“Clear.”

A different group strode through the door and into the hangar. Three very large and well-armed mercenary figures of a species Poe didn’t recognise emerged through the door and were followed by a young human male. Poe looked at the young man. Actually he was more like an adolescent. He had pale skin, long dark hair in a plait, narrow eyes and high cheekbones. His black and green clothes were simple and tailored rather than military. He carried a blaster but he also wore a ring with a green stone.

The kid strode past the other militia as they respectfully stood aside and headed straight for their trio. The kid stopped in front of Luke and held out a hand.

“My name is Sanjo Demos and I need your help to rescue my sister.”

Luke looked at the kid for a moment then smiled.

“You seem to have command of a good fighting squad. Why do you need me?”

Sanjo scowled and squared his shoulders.

“She needs a Jedi. You are Luke Skywalker aren’t you,” he said. Luke’s face grew serious. He leant forward to look into Sanjo’s eyes. The kid lifted his chin just a little but his eyes widened and he swayed backwards. Two of the huge mercenaries edged closer to the kid but he waved them back.

“And how do you know this,” Luke said. Sanjo took a shaky breath.

“My sister sent me here. She said you’d be on a First Order ship.” Luke leaned closer, staring into the kid’s eyes. Poe was glad he wasn’t under Luke’s intense gaze right now. Just watching the kid quake as he stared back sent a shiver up Poe’s spine. Was Luke testing him or was he actually looking into the kid’s head as the Jedi’s stance suggested.

Luke stood up straight again.

“You’re sister doesn’t need me to rescue her but I will be going to Dastron and I believe I will be meeting your sister,” Luke said. Sanjo frowned and tilted forward again.

“So you’ll help us,” he said. Luke chuckled and shook his head.

“No, you will be helping me.” Luke turned to Poe.

“Commander, what’s your suggestion on getting us to Dastron.” Poe looked about the ship’s hangar assessing the possibilities. The First Oder crew present had been subdued by Sanjo’s militia group. A ship of this size didn’t have too many crew or Stormtroopers.

“Hijack the ship. That should get us in range. Maybe even give us a landing without raising suspicion, if we’re quiet about it.”

Chewie barked his agreement. Sanjo stepped forward.

“Wait a minute. We’re here to take you to Dastron so you can…”

Luke held up a hand and the kid’s words died.

“I heard you but I also have a task while I’m here and your sister is not my priority,” Luke said. Sanjo’s face paled at first and then it went red as he clenched his fists. Poe wasn’t sure what Luke was playing at here but it wasn’t going down well with the kid.

“My sister said you were here to help us…”

“I would say your sister understands more than you realise Sanjo. You must trust that she knew what she was doing when she sent you to me,” Luke said. There was both reassurance and a challenge in Luke’s voice. Sanjo opened and closed his mouth a few times and then nodded.

“As long as my sister is freed,” the kid said. Luke nodded.

“Can your group take this ship,” he said. Sanjo stood tall.

“Absolutely.”

Luke nodded and Sanjo turned to his militia group. The older man with rank and a battle hardy look about him stepped forward.

“We will take the bridge first then sweep through the rest of the ship.”

Sanjo nodded. “The prisoners.”

“We will have to keep them captive. They will alert the rest of the Order if we dump them on the station.”

“Agreed. See it done,” Sanjo said.

Poe was amazed by the way the kid gave the orders and the group responded. Luke was also watching but his face told a different story. Luke watched the kid with an intensity that reminded him of the way the General sometimes watched new members of the Resistance. The way Leia had watched him before she’d sent him on his first command mission.


	16. Chapter 16

After the initial surprise attack on the bunker Rey and Kylo faced each other like team captains. The heretic stood behind Rey. Phasma and her Stormtroopers stood behind Kylo. The Stormtroopers took possession of the firearms left by the guards. No-one watched as the last of the women from the cages fled into the jungle. It wouldn’t be long before more Guavians emerged and the fight would be on again.

_We can fight them together_.

Kylo’s whispered words in her mind were smooth and persuading, heard only by her. She stepped back. She remembered his smile when he’d looked at her up on the mountain, the one that had made him look so cold. This wasn’t just about ridding the galaxy of criminals. This was what he wanted. Her by his side. Her fighting by his side. His clumsy offer on Starkiller to teach her echoed in her mind.

Rey felt the urge to run but didn’t, couldn’t. His gaze still held hers but she could see his eyes widen while a line appeared beween his brows. His bottom lip dimpled as he bit it on the inside, as if it mattered more to him than it should that she be by his side. She thought of the look on his face when she’d given him the scar. There had been shock and humiliation but there was a longing that had caught at her too. It had been smashed aside by her revulsion of his actions and her elation at her victory but she remembered it now. A longing she had ignored because she hadn’t understood it. She wasn’t sure she understood it now. She resisted the temptation to reach out to him in the force and know what he was thinking.

Rey wasn’t the kind to stand by someone’s side. It came from standing alone for so many years. Even Luke had told her this. Her tendency to be a loner warred with her desire to be a part of a family. She was good at surviving. She got on well with others on the surface but opening up at a personal level was a struggle. What Kylo wanted was a personal connection she wasn’t prepared to give him.

There was no time to think on it any more. The bunker door flew open and red and black warriors burst into the clearing, firing blasters. Rey and Kylo reacted, deflecting bolts. The bolts Rey caught went wide but Kylo sent two back at the Guavians, taking them down. They were soon replaced by other Guavians.

Those Stormtroopers with a blaster returned fire. Phasma charged the closest Guavian, ignoring a bolt that ricocheted off her shoulder. She slammed a fist into the Guavian’s face then picked him up and slammed him down onto the ground. The Guavian didn’t move again. She took the blaster and formed a line with the other Stormtroopers. Together they advanced on the bunker.

Rey positioned herself between the Guavians and the heretic woman, who had sensibly dropped to the ground. A Guavian targeted Rey, shooting his blaster as he charged. Rey felt a bolt skim across her cheekbone but ignored it while she was still able to fight. She deflected another bolt then leapt and rolled and came up with her sabre, burying it into the Guavian’s side. He went down but still took aim with his blaster and got a shot off before he fell to the ground unmoving. Rey could feel it coming, dead centre for her chest. She let the force guide her and spun away, the bolt burning a hole in her jacket. As she came back she remembered the woman behind her and turned just enough to see that she was crawling off towards the bunker.

“What’re you trying to get back,” Rey yelled at her above the melee.

“My healer’s bag,” the woman yelled back. “It’s got sensitive stuff in it that should be kept out of certain hands.” Rey understood the idea of sensitive stuff and things not falling into the wrong hands.

“What’s your name,” Rey yelled.

“Solia.”

“I’ll help you get your bag back if you can help me by not getting yourself killed,” Rey yelled.

“Done,” Solia yelled.

A roar from Kylo got her attention. He swung his lightsabre in a broad arc, cutting down two Guavians but two more were angling in on either side of him. Phasma and the Stormtroopers, less one after a Guavian found his mark, were pinned down and Rey could see a third Guavian was now aiming his blaster at Kylo’s back from the bunker entrance. Rey sprinted and leapt, catching the bolt at the last moment with her sabre. The Guavian had let go a second bolt though and this one caught her in the side. It burned but she kept going. She raised her sabre again to deflect a last bolt before she reached the Guavian and cut the blaster and the hand holding it in half.

Rey caught a look from Kylo, a half smile on his face. She scowled.

_Don’t get excited. We’re still enemies once this is over._

She had said the words through the force without even thinking. Kylo’s grin widened.

_I’d expect nothing less._

Rey huffed before she turned away.

_Don’t get yourself killed staring at me_.

She thought a chuckle came through the force but she ignored it.

More Guavians were coming out of the bunker and this time the black clad man came with them. He had something more than just an ordinary blaster and he used it to effect. He aimed for Phasma and the bolt found her side. Her armour proved its worth as the chrome suit wasn’t pierced. She was spun to the side, rolling several times before she stopped. The huge woman wasn’t going to be kept down. She sat up and fired off a blast catching the dark clad man in the shoulder. He fell back and dropped his weapon. Rey decided it was time she confiscated his blaster.

The other Guavians that had just emerged aimed straight for Kylo, Phasma and the Stormtroopers. Rey didn’t waste the opportunity. She sprinted again to get to the blaster and was able to kick it from the grasp of the man’s hand before he could pick it up again.

Rey spotted Solia crawling her way towards the bunker door. She grabbed the blaster and tossed it to her. Solia sprang away from it like it was burning metal.

“No. I can’t touch it,” she shrieked. Rey’s mouth fell open.

“What.”

Solia looked up at Rey.

“I’m not allowed to bear weapons or engage in war,” she said. Rey guessed this was one of the things Kylo meant earlier when he said heretics believed strange things. Not that it was a strange thing to believe, just inconvenient right now. Solia kept crawling towards the bunker doors.

Rey didn’t have much time to think it over as two Guavians came after her. She reached out to the force with her feelings, twisting around some bolts and deflecting others. The one she’d caught in her side was still stinging and she suspected it was deep. Rey used each twist and leap to gain ground on the Guavians until she was able to take the first one down. The second evaded her though and she felt another sting to her hip as a bolt caught her. She stumbled and struggled to find a footing from the pain. The Guavian turned and aimed the blaster at her head and fired. She was a fraction too slow with her lightsabre. The world slowed down and she could see it coming. She let the force flow as she dropped but it wasn’t going to be enough.

The bolt stopped. Rey fell to the ground. A dark figure to her side appeared and swung a red lightsabre and the Guavian was finished. Rey looked up at the sputtering bolt for a moment, her mouth open, before it flew off into the shrubbery. Her gaze fell on Kylo. She let out a breath she hadn’t known she was holding. She couldn’t say anything but whatever thank you she could muster she sent it through the force. Kylo nodded.

He spun away as another Guavian came at him with a blade. Rey saw others heading for them. There seemed to be so many of them. Rey pulled the force to clamp down on the pain in her side and leapt to her feet. Like a scene in a holo-vid she found herself fighting back to back with Kylo. It was all she could do to keep going as she continued to reach for and dig deep into the force. She could hear Kylo behind her roar as he took down another Guavian. She felt his pain when he took a slash across his arm. A Guavian rushed her and she impaled him, shoving him back with her foot even as she used Kylo for support.

The man who had been dressed only in black and carried the heavy blaster was on his feet again with the blaster. He was heading for the heretic, who was almost to the bunker. Rey snatched up a blaster from a downed Guavian and got off a shot. The man went down again.

Her memory kicked into gear and the name Bala Tik came to mind. Rey wasn’t going to let him get the woman she’d just rescued. The number of Guavians was finally starting to dwindle. She had no idea how many she and Kylo had taken down. Phasma and her troopers had found a secure position and were firing on any last Guavians that emerged from the bunker. Rey couldn’t remember this many on the Ervana. Somehow their numbers, reduced by the rathtars, had been more than replenished. They’d doubled and tripled even.

Solia crawled past Bala Tik. He tried to grab her but she evaded his grasp. Rey walked over and pointed the lightsabre at his chest. He glared up at her, a twisted snarl on his face. Solia ran into the bunker.

“You’ll regret letting her out you know,” Bala Tik hissed. Rey ignored him. The others had killed or subdued the Guavian force. Kylo walked over and stood next to Rey. Bala Tik looked up at him and swallowed, his face paling.

“Someone shot down my ship,” Kylo said, his voice calm even after the exertion of the fight. Bala Tik’s mouth worked for a moment but no sound came out. Kylo held the tip of his lightsabre to the man’s leg. He screamed in pain.

“Ah, you do have a voice,” Kylo said. Rey was shocked and she stepped away. Bala Tik tried to sit up but Kylo’s sabre tip sprang back to hover in front of the man’s face.

“We thought we we’re under attack,” he wailed. Kylo sneered.

“One shuttle is hardly an attack.”

Baala Tik snivelled.

“It wasn’t the usual kind of shuttle.”

Rey didn’t like the way this was going. As soon as Solia had her bag she was leaving. She wasn’t staying here to watch Kylo tear this place apart.

There was a shriek from deep inside the bunker. Rey turned and ran for the doors but slowed her pace as she approached. She stepped inside the doors and stopped, her sabre raised. Looking about she couldn’t see Solia. She walked further in, one foot at a time and checking everywhere as she advanced. Up ahead there was a communication console. To one side there were stairs to the docking and gunnery areas. She turned to the other side and saw Solia half way down a corridor. She stared at something Rey couldn’t see, a hand over her open mouth.

Rey strode down the corridor but stopped when she saw what Solia was staring at. Rey gasped as her body reeled back in shock. Horror and disbelief crashed through her at what she saw.

A glass window allowed a view into the rooms beyond. Hanging from the ceiling were rows of pods, each containing a person. Robotic arms spun the pods and inserted probes and tubes. Fluids of different colours ran in and out of the pods. In the pod closest to her the skull had been sliced open exposing it’s pink and grey mottled surface. Surgical blades and needles worked on it, inserting nebulous blue and yellow wired devices into the brain crevices and across the surface. Rey saw several Stormtrooper suits piled in the corner. They were making hundreds, or maybe thousands of cybernetic enhanced soldiers. This was illegal. At least it was illegal in the Republic.

“It’s worse than I thought,” Solia said. Rey turned to her. Her arms were hugged about her body and her head bowed, shaking.

“What do you mean,” Rey said.

“My father. My father did this,” she whispered just loud enough for Rey to hear.

There was a scuffle inside the bunker door. Kylo appeared dragging Bala Tik behind him. Phasma had Bala Tik’s heavy duty blaster and it was trained on him now. Kylo spotted Rey and walked towards her, dropping Bala Tik. He raised a hand for Phasma to remain where she was. She kept the blaster trained on the frightened man.

When Kylo saw what they were looking at his expression grew dark and his eyes turned arctic. He bowed his head for a moment then turned away, walking back to Bala Tik.

“What is this,” Kylo demanded.

“We’re just fulfilling the contract for the First Order,” Bala Tik said. Kylo towered over the Guavian negotiator.

“No. Cybernetic enhancements like this are unreliable. This is not for the First Order,” Kylo snarled. Bala Tik shrugged.

“Well you better tell Zhark Demos that.” Kylo went still, looking down at the man, he extended a hand. Rey could feel the way the force became a weapon in his hand, lancing his mind.

“Stop,” Rey said. Kylo ignored her. Bala Tik whimpered and groaned, his body shaking.

“Kylo Ren. Stop.” He did stop but not because of Rey. She could feel it in him. He had what he wanted and was no longer interested in Bala Tik. Rey could feel the man’s despair but she reminded herself he was involved in slavery of the worst kind. Better that he find himself in a First Order jail than be allowed to continue with this.

Rey turned to Solia and whispered.

“Is there another way out of here?” She nodded and began to shuffle down the corridor away from Kylo.

Kylo spun and held out a hand. Solia froze, her mouth open in horror but unable to do anything to help herself.

“Let her go,” Rey said, igniting her lightsabre. Kylo’s eyes burned and Rey could feel the wrath surge within him.

Bala Tik sniggered. Kylo looked down at him.

“Feisty. Would have made a good slave. Still could if you want to know how.”

“What use have I for slaves,” Kylo said. Bala Tik laughed, looking at Phasma.

“True. You already have one right there. And don’t forget your Stormtroopers. Just like your grandfather.”

Kylo went very still. Everyone froze. The atmosphere went icy. Now was not the time to have a nervous mouth full of words. Bala Tik didn’t seem be able to read the signs. Maybe the probe into his mind had unhinged something. A wild look entered his eyes. He sneered and spat out his words like they were daggers.

“I bet they told you Darth Vader was the first of the Knights of Ren. He wasn’t just some bastard son of a slave, a murderous sith lord. He was going to bring order to the galaxy and other b...”

His words died as Kylo swung his lightsabre and separated Bala Tik’s head from his body. Rey wasn’t sure why she was so shocked. They had just done battle outside. They had both killed. If they hadn’t they would have been dead by now. But this was unnecessary, cold and merciless. Where mercy could be shown it should be. Whatever gentler side she had seen in him was not much more than an illusion. Kylo Ren was still a creature of the dark side. Whatever pitiful pearl of light still burned in his heart it was drowned by the ocean of darkness that was the rest of him. She’d be a fool to think he’d changed just because of her.

_Leave now_.

Rey started at the sound of her grandfather’s voice. She started to back away. Kylo had released Solia in his fit of rage. Both Rey and Solia turned to run.

Rey could feel his power grasping at her and she turned and hit back with all she had. It was enough to send him stumbling back against Phasma. It was all they needed as they fled. Adrenaline pulsed through Rey shutting down the pain in her side from the blaster injury. They rounded a corner and there was a door up ahead. It had a key pad lock. She reached out and found the mechanism, bypassing the security lock and it sprang open. She could hear Kylo and Phasma charging down the corridor behind them. The door slid back and they barrelled through.

The door hissed shut behind them. Ahead was an array of stairs and doors, like it was some central hub of connection in the base. There wasn’t time to figure out which ones led where. Rey didn’t want to get trapped below so she chose the closest stair that lead up and dived for it. Solia followed and Rey turned to push her ahead rather than have her fall behind and be captured. Rey groaned as another locked door loomed up ahead.

The door below that they just came through swished open. Rey didn’t look back. A blaster bolt hit the door ahead of them. It wasn’t meant to do any damage, just stop them. Solia fell back on Rey as she tried to avoid the burning bits of metal. Rey hissed as pain twinged through her side. She ignored it and pushed Solia back on her feet then turned and faced the two figures below, breathing and redirecting her mind away from the wound in her side.

Rey punched her hand towards Phasma and knocked her off her feet. Phasma dropped her blaster and it clattered down the other set of stairs. Kylo extended a hand in return and Rey could feel his power aimed directly at her like a wave. Rey raised both her hands and pushed back. Somewhere in the middle their efforts crashed into each other, twisting and surging as they tried to overpower each other using the force alone.

_I will win,_ Kylo said in her mind.

_I won’t back down,_ she sent back.

The power between them bent and sparked, as though it was out of their control. Dark and light fused into something greater than both until it ignited and sent them both flying back. Rey found herself sprawled on the stairs, the world swaying about her and her side aching.

Kylo recovered quicker than she did. He picked himself up and was making an unsteady progress up the stairs. Rey felt Solia’s hands under her shoulders trying to drag her up away from Kylo. Her voice in her ears roused her stupefied senses.

“Stay away from us death walker,” Solia yelled.

“I have no interest in you heretic unless you get in my way,” Kylo responded.

“You walk with the dead yet you search for the living. You can’t find the living where the dead walk,” the heretic shouted.

“Stop ranting. You make no sense,” Kylo growled.

“Darth Vader is dead. Stop looking for him. Search for the living.”

There was silence and Rey pushed herself up. Kylo stood on the stairs below, his face red with anger, his scar standing out in purple relief.

“You don’t know anything about who I’m looking for.” Kylo extended a hand towards Solia. Rey pulled herself up and stood in the way of his reach. His hand wavered. Rey spun and pushed Solia ahead of her. Whatever she was shouting about could wait for later when they weren’t about to end up back on a transport to the Finalizer. They scrambled up the stairs. Kylo roared and leapt after them.

The door was locked and Rey raised a hand to unlock the mechanism. She was still a bit shaky after what had happened on the stairs. She heard Kylo’s steps at the top of the stairs. They stopped. He called out, his voice was gentle, persuading.

“Rey. Stop. Please.” Rey wavered. She knew he was using the force. It was easy to strike back at him or throw him off when he was angry or arrogant but this gentle persuasion.

“Don’t listen to him,” Solia hissed.

“I know you’re hurt,” Kylo said. Rey closed her eyes and breathed, reaching for the force. It flowed to her, strong and bright and she almost breathed it in.

He took a step towards her. She turned to him and stood between him and the heretic.

“Let me help you,” he said.

“No.” Rey didn’t trust him, couldn’t trust him. That concern in his eyes meant nothing. Rey reached back for the lock again and the door swished open. Solia darted through. Rey stepped backwards and Kylo followed like a predator with its prey in sight. Before the door could close again he plunged his lightsabre into the control panel and the open door froze in place. Rey ignited her lightsabre ready to defend herself keeping her eyes trained on Kylo.

They had emerged onto the roof of the bunker to find a landing pad for smaller craft. There was a row of steel columns holding up an overhang on the roofline and a step down to the launch pad level. Rey glanced about. She couldn’t see Solia but she spotted a speeder not far away. Perfect.

Kylo lifted a hand as if to knock the speeder out of action. Rey was about to lunge forward with her lightsabre but the heretic reappeared from behind a steel column. She had a length of something in her hand and faster than Rey expected she wrapped it about Kylo’s wrist. Kylo and Rey looked down at it. Rey felt it like a switch being flicked off. Kylo disappeared in the force as though he was dead. Except he stood there, very much alive, his mouth open and his eyes wide.

“What did you do,” Rey said. Solia didn’t respond, just scrabbled about in her bag.

Kylo grabbed at the thing on his wrist and yanked at it. It looked like a bracelet studded with green stones. It held fast. He tried to push it down over his hand but it would not budge.

“Get it off me,” he roared. Phasma had found her feet and had come through the door, her blaster aimed at Rey.

“Do as he says,” Phasma demanded.

“If you kill her he’ll never be able to get it off…unless he cuts his hand off,” Solia said. They all looked at her with varying degrees of horror on their faces.

 Kylo banged the bracelet on the steel column but that made no difference either. His eyes were wide and his mouth open as he stared at it. He reached out to Solia and clenched his fist. Rey knew he could force crush her with that grip but nothing happened. She was relieved but then the panicked look in his eyes caught at her.

“What is this? What have you done,” Rey demanded.

“Nothing permanent. You can take it off him as soon as it’s safe,” she said. Rey turned to her.

“Safe. And why is it that I have to take it off him.” Solia pushed past Rey and grabbed Kylo’s hand. Before he could pull away she stabbed a tiny needle into his wrist.

“Ow. What was that,” he cried. His voice held genuine fear and Rey felt an unreasonable anger towards Solia. She lifted her lightsabre and held it near the woman’s neck.

“Stop what you’re doing. Now.”

Solia looked at Rey, her lips pressed together as a scowl deepened the lines on her forehead.

“I have not caused him injury or permanent harm. It’s just a mild tranquilizer so we can escape.” She waved a hand towards the speeder. Phasma turned to the speeder with her blaster. Rey leapt and swiped her lightsabre down through the blaster, just missing her hands. As she did she knocked Kylo to the side. He swayed and stumbled. Rey retracted her lightsabre and reached out to catch him before he fell down the step to the launch area. He still went down the step but she stopped him falling at least. They were now at eye level with each other. She balanced him as she hooked her lightsabre to her belt.

He was heavy as he leaned against her, his hands gripping her shoulders for support. He shook his head. The injury in her side throbbed but she ignored it, pulling the force to her for strength. Kylo looked into her eyes, blinking once then then breathing in as though he was trying to fight the tranquiliser with the force. It wasn’t working.

“Every time you’re near me…it’s like you’re some kind of meteorite knocking me off...”

His eyes closed and opened. Rey tried to feel him with the force but the force slid straight past him not recognising his presence, as though he didn’t exist. If she couldn’t see him she wouldn’t know he was there.

“Rey,” he swayed towards her but righted himself. She could see his eyes were getting foggy. “Rey don’t follow Gem into the temple.” His eyes closed and he swayed towards her again. His words felt like a physical shock to her. First her brother now her sister. What did he know? She pushed him back and shook him.

“What do you mean? What about Gem? Why shouldn’t I follow my sister?” Rey shook him and he roused. He looked at her and smiled, a sad and sweet tilt to his mouth. He spoke in a low, soft voice.

“You grew up Rey.” He lifted a hand and touched her jaw with his finger. It trailed across to the corner of her mouth. Rey wondered if he was going to touch her lips again. He was looking at her mouth and his gaze had softened, captivating her. Still she pushed him to keep talking, maybe revealing something she could use to help unravel her past.

“Kylo. My sister. What do you mean ‘don’t follow her into the temple’.” His finger slid over her lips like he wanted her to stop speaking.

“It’s me…Ben.”

Rey froze, her mouth falling open. There was someone different in his eyes. His fingers slid back across to her jaw and he swayed towards her. He was so close Rey could feel the warmth of his breath and smell the salt on his skin.

He pulled in a short little breath, his fingers firmed against her jaw and he buried his other hand in the folds of her jacket. Rey saw a flicker of light in his eyes before he tipped his head towards hers and brushed a kiss over her lips. Rey’s heart stopped. Soft and achingly sweet, his mouth on hers was like the first time she’d eaten honeyed citral fruit, nothing would ever be as good as long as she lived. The world spun and she forgot where she was. He leaned into her, pressing his mouth against hers, seeking entry to her soul.  

He pulled away far too soon. He looked at her and a little gasp of surprise softened his mouth into an O that was too endearing to be mad with even if she’d had the chance. His eyes closed as he lost consciousness and he fell against her. His face buried in her neck, his mouth against the racing pulse there and the warmth of his breath tickling her skin. His hands fell by his side. All Rey could do was stand there stunned while she held him.  


	17. Chapter 17

Rey burned under the stares of the two other women. Rey looked at Solia, her mouth open. Solia raised a hand in a kind of nervous shrug, her bottom lip between her teeth. When Phasma came into view her face was red with fury, her eyes were icy and her voice was a snarl.

“Give him to me.” 

Rey surprised herself by laying a possessive hand on his shoulder. The Ben that Luke talked about sometimes before he caught himself, the one who was young and full of promise was there inside the man she held. Kylo had said he’d destroyed that boy but he hadn’t. Underneath when all the darkness had disappeared Ben was still there.

“Fine,” Phasma spat. “It’s my orders to take the both of you back.” Rey glared at her.

“You got lucky last time. This time won’t be so easy.”

Phasma looked at Solia. The woman backed away. Phasma snapped out a hand and snagged the edge of Solia’s sleeve.

“You can keep him or you can keep her.” Rey knew it was a bluff but a bluff with the muscle to back it up. Well one good bluff deserved another.

“I know you lowered the shields at Starkiller. You could save yourself again and leave me behind.” Phasma paled.

“Shut up,” she snarled. Rey grinned in spite of Ben’s weight on her.

“I’m guessing by that Hux and Snoke don’t know that little detail.”

Phasma loomed over her. She couldn’t use her lightsabre or she’d drop Ben. If she let Phasma have him she’d take him back to Snoke and the darkside where Ben would drown again beneath the darkness. Rey felt her pulse surge at the thought of stealing Ben away from Snoke. Could she carry him like this?

Phasma’s eyes narrowed and she leaned closer. A vicious smile twisted her lips.

“How’s little FN-2187? I’d say he’s not doing so well about now. You should have let me take him in.”

Rey stared at her. A cold shiver crept up her spine. Finn.

“What are you talking about?” Rey demanded. Phasma let go of Solia and put her armoured hand on the back of Ben’s neck.

“Give him to me.”

“We have to go,” Solia said. Phasma looked at the woman.

“I should arrest you too.”

“You should wonder what will happen to him if I refuse to tell her how to remove the… that thing.” Solia waved a hand at the bracelet around Ben’s wrist.

“I’m sure I could find a way to make you take it off.”

“Stop,” Rey said. “Tell me about Finn.” Phasma raised an eyebrow.

“Finn. Who is Finn. I’ve never heard of him.”

Rey thought about using her lightsabre to convince Phasma but she’d have to hand Ben to Phasma to get to it. She looked down at him. His warmth against her was comforting and the way his hair tickled her neck and check made her want to hold him tight but there was no guarantee he’d be Ben when he woke up. Not being able to sense him at all in the force she couldn’t tell if Kylo or Ben would come back. If she stayed she would be dragged before Snoke and she was not ready for that and if what Phasma had implied about Finn was true…

_Rey, you must go._

She’d grown so used to trusting her grandfather’s voice. She didn’t want to leave Ben behind and she wanted what Phasma knew about Finn. In the end the decision was made by Solia.

“You have to use the force to take that thing off his wrist,” she hissed. “Do it now.”

Solia grabbed Ben’s wrist and held up his hand. Rey positioned herself to take Ben’s weight, even though her side ached, Rey reached for his wrist and could feel the bracelet respond to her touch. She let the force gather at her fingertips as she slid the bracelet over his hand. Solia grabbed it and wrapped it around her wrist. Rey noticed the force gathered to the heretic without the bracelet and now it was gone. At the same time the blank space in the force where Kylo had been was filled with the angry darkness that had surrounded him before. Nothing had changed.

Rey felt her heart whither just a little. That little ray of hope dimmed and she realised the last few minutes had been a fantasy, an illusion. The reality was that Kylo Ren was the man who would wake up when the tranquiliser wore off.

“You’ve got about fifteen minutes until that wears off. We need to leave,” Solia said.

Rey closed her eyes and took a breath. She held him tight for a moment.

_I’m sorry Ben._

Rey pushed Kylo away from her towards Phasma. Rey felt a dark surge of jealousy as he fell back against her, resting on her huge chrome shoulder. She stepped away, reminding herself it was Kylo Ren she was handing back, not Ben. The triumph in Phasma’s eyes made the bile rise in Rey’s throat but she pushed it back down. Bitterness and anger were the dark side.

“Tell me about Finn…FN-2...”Rey hated that Finn was just a number to the First Order and refused to say it. Phasma sneered.

“Once the isotopes break down in his blood he’ll go down fast and you won’t be able to do a thing about it.”

Dread crept into Rey’s heart. Had they missed something? They had gone over every aspect of the First Order’s hold on him to make sure he was free of it.

“I can help him,” Solia said. Phasma’s eyes narrowed but Rey felt hope bloom.

“I know what they do to their Stormtroopers. Whoever your Finn is, she can’t help him but I can.”

Rey backed away her eyes fixed on Kylo. Even though the dark of the force surrounded him still she couldn’t help seeing Ben in the sleeping face. The memory of Finn’s pale face in the med room after Kylo had scored his back flashed in her mind. Longing and loyalty warred in her heart. That kiss from Ben, not Kylo, had changed much but Finn needed her.

_I’ll come back for you_ she said to Ben through the force.

Rey didn’t know if she was going to be able to but she wanted it to be true. She turned and ran towards the speeder. She jumped on and Solia landed in the seat behind her.

Rey looked back for just a moment and saw that Phasma now held Kylo in her arms like she was carrying a sleeping child. His dark form seemed vulnerable against her commanding silver physique. Rey had a horrible feeling she was leaving Ben behind but if she stayed any longer the First Order would be here. Rey turned away and looked at the forest surrounding the bunker. It was time to go.

“Which way,” she said. Solia pointed to the north, her green robes fluttering in the wind and reflecting the green of the forest surrounds.

For just a brief moment Rey felt a brush on her mind. Familiar warmth soothed her rattled senses. She closed her eyes and smiled. Luke was coming. The sound of approaching First Order shuttle craft alerted Rey to their peril. He let her go. There was an understanding. They would find each other when they could. Rey took a deep breath and kicked the speeder to life.  

 

_Ben, it’s me._

Kylo Tried to find the owner of the whisper. He wasn’t able to move or draw the force to him.

_Don’t try and look for me. Just listen. We don’t have much time._

Who are you? That warm deep voice was familiar.

_Never mind that. Anakin needs to talk to you but he can’t get through when Snoke…_

Dad.

The force was back. He could feel its dark embrace. He felt smothered. It was heavy in him now. When he was young it had flowed like sunlight but now its weight expanded in him until it felt like there was no space for him. The conflict within had died when the force left. He was helpless but free without the force. Now it was back he felt its burden and limitless power crushing him.

Kylo struggled to drag his way out of the mire of the waking dream state he’d been trapped in. Unable to move or cry out, the force had slid past his reach and left his body empty. It was like he’d had no body. There were just the sounds and voices around him. He listened but couldn’t do anything about what he could hear.

Don’t go. Stay with _me_ Rey. He wanted to scream the words but he was still helpless. Nothing was getting through. That wasn’t some ordinary tranquiliser that heretic had given him. It had some kind of effect linked to the force.

A memory pushed at his mind. There’d been a voice. Fear coiled into his chest, clenching his heart until he could barely breathe with it. A familiar voice had spoken to him but dark pain caused him to glance away from the memory. He knew it was important but he was too frightened to acknowledge the memory. Why was he so afraid? A familiar guilt seeped into his mind. He couldn’t turn back, whatever the cost.  

He opened his eyes, a gasp in his throat, to find he was sitting propped against a wall in a room by himself. He looked around. At least Phasma had the sense not to leave him somewhere in view while he was passed out like a drunken fool. Except he hadn’t been truly passed out. He’d heard everything they’d said.

He sat for a while just trying to sort through the images and words of what had happened before he’d…white hot mortification hit him like a tsunami.

He’d kissed her.

In front of others.

Not in some private moment with just the two of them that his most fevered dreams had shown him but like some fool with no social grace or feeling.

He could feel his whole body burn with humiliation. He buried his face in his hands and groaned.

Now she thinks he’s an idiot as well as a monster. She’d be right on both counts.   

And yet… she hadn’t rejected the kiss. He felt again her lips against his and the warmth of her touch. His heart stopped and then did something erratic that caused him to suck in a shaky breath. His body was doing things he didn’t want on display right now. A shudder gripped him as he remembered again how soft her lips had been, how she’d tasted of sweet and salt and made him think of summer days and gentle breezes. Her possessive hand on his shoulder. She’d even been reluctant to let him go. He closed his eyes and hugged his arms about himself at the memory. Just a few precious memories.

Until Phasma had mentioned FN-2187. Rey insisted on calling him Finn. Then she’d been quick to let him go. Black rage against the Stormtrooper, the traitor, struck at his heart like a harpoon. She was running back to him. To a forceless whelp who could give her nothing. The desire for revenge against the both of them raged through him. He wanted to draw all his darkness to him and strike at them. He imagined terrible things but when an image of her face, afraid and hurt flashed into his mind it felt like icy water had been thrown over him. He didn’t want to hurt her or make her afraid.

He told himself she didn’t feel as he did. It was better this way. He could contain his rage and despair if he knew all of these feelings were his alone. It didn’t matter if he crushed them down. There was no hope for them, for him. She had Finn. It was better that way. 

_I’ll come back for you._ The words were whispered. Were they hers? Something hot and stinging seeped not just from his eyes but from his heart as well. He gritted his teeth and growled, refusing to allow one more tear. Let his heart harden. He refused to allow emotion to weaken him.

But his memory had one last twist that threatened to rip the world out from under him.

It’s me, Ben.

The words now sounded like an echo lost in the howling emptiness of his heart. He’d destroyed Ben. Ben didn’t exist.

It’s me, Ben.  

He closed his eyes and willed the words away but even though he reached in and down to find his centre in the force he was still left with the fear - the foundations of Kylo Ren had a fatal flaw that he didn’t know how to fix. Ben wasn’t dead yet. Worse, Ben was the one Rey had held onto. Not Kylo Ren. Ben had been the one who kissed her.

Just like on Starkiller base he felt an abyss open before him and everything he loved was on the other side. He was alone watching again as she turned and ran away.

Kylo reached again for the darkness to banish all weakness. As the Supreme Leader said, he must expel all sentiment if he was to succeed. It was his life, his destiny to finish his grandfather’s work. And if perhaps that destiny had lost some of its shine it didn’t matter. It was his and his alone.

The scrape of a boot outside dragged him from his thoughts. He sprang to his feet but had to put a hand on the wall to steady himself. He breathed in a settling breath and focussed his mind on going forward. Meeting whatever his life dealt him and dealing with it with the darkness of the force as his power.

When Kylo Ren emerged from the bunker to watch as troops and officers embarked from the shuttles he was like a burning shadow. He let the darkness flow to and through him, let the rage flex and coil, ready to strike. He could feel the gaze of many flick to him then flick away in fear. His bare face, haggard from the sun and sea and battle would be enough to unsettle anyone but with the power of the dark side within he would command just as he would with his mask and cowl.

“Lord Ren.” Phasma’s stern but respectful voice behind him reminded him of her part in Rey’s escape and he turned to her with a sense of malice. She had her helmet in her hand as though she was about to put it on. Her face still visible to him as was her look of concern. It didn’t temper his displeasure. He could see her eyes twitch and her jaw clench before she straightened.

“I’m afraid that the stowaway has escaped.”

Kylo glared at her.

“I know you let her go.” She gasped and her eyes widened before she looked down.

“She knew what you did on Starkiller base. Lowering the shields,” Kylo snapped. Phasma swallowed. Kylo tuned away. He’d been thankful they hadn’t blown up the Resistance. What it would have meant if they had.

“If Hux knew…” Phasma began but stopped. She squared her shoulders stared straight ahead. “I take full responsibility for my actions. You do what you must.”

Kylo looked at her. What was the point of petty vengeance? It wasn’t her he was truly angry with.

“It seems I made a fool of myself today.” Phasma blinked and looked at him.

“I blame whatever that green witch did to you.” Kylo shook his head.

“We both have things we’d like to keep off the record.” It was all he said. She nodded and replaced her helmet, saluting him before she moved towards a troupe of Stormtroopers. 

Kylo stood watching the activity. The sun was sinking towards the western horizon and the heat was receding along with it. Kylo closed his eyes and breathed, reaching out with the force. Where was she? He couldn’t feel her, or at least he couldn’t make her out. He ground his teeth. Whatever that thing the heretic had put on him had been he was sure it was now interfering with his ability to seek her out in the force. He hissed. It was going to be another failure that Snoke would mark against him when he returned without her. He should stay and continue the search. He touched his face and it stung from sunburn. He was going to need bacta treatment for that along with the blaster burns he’d sustained. He would call for his command shuttle. He ordered a Stormtrooper to send for it.

The Stormtroopers had rooted out a few more Guavians and their technical staff hiding in the bunker and were marching them, hands on heads, onto a waiting shuttle. That reminded him of the cyborg factory below and he turned to head back inside. He wanted to know everything that was going on.

The pods hung in rows, macabre symbols of criminal intent. He stared in at the bodies. This was more than just a local built ready army. He went to the door and pushed it open. He approached one of the pods and placed a hand on it. The body inside moved and the faceless head turned to him. He reached in with the force.

Memories flicked through Kylo’s mind of growing up and friends and working in the local farming village. These melded with the enforced knowledge of death and killing. Fear and regret also coursed through the mind. He pressed his lips together. Another army of stolen bodies. He moved down the rows to a more recent pod and placed his hand on it. This was a Stormtrooper. He looked up. The face was still intact but the brain and spine were already open. It was one of the missing male Stormtroopers. His skin was dark, his eyes angry. Kylo reached for his mind and felt the rage of helplessness. It struck a chord he didn’t want to examine.

Kylo moved on to the bunker control room. He recognised Lieutenant Mitaka at a console.

“What’s you’re analysis Lieutenant,” Kylo said. Mitaka jumped, his eyes widening, but he maintained his composure.

“Sir, I believe that this facility is being used to create cybernetic troops for the local government. They’re not part of the First Order requirements. General Hux has stated that the Dastronian Representative has been evasive regarding events and production facilities since our arrival in the system.”

Kylo nodded. The cybernetic troops were a liability. Their loyalty would be to local authority, not the First Order. Mitaka’s fingers continued to fly across the console, bringing up several files.

“Sir there is a neural program embedded in the construction of the cybernetic implants.” Kylo grimaced, that would coincide with what he felt when he put his hands on the tanks.

“Sir I can’t access it. The files are heavily encrypted,” Mitaka continued.

“We will need to destroy all of these as well as any currently operating troops. I won’t have the First Order betrayed by these abominations.”

“Yes, Sir,” Mitaka replied. “I will send through your instructions.” Kylo began to walk away.

“Sir, regarding the Stormtroopers who have been incorporated into the…”

“They must be destroyed as well. We don’t need any more traitors.” Kylo turned to leave the control room. There was a gasp behind him. He turned to see one of the original female Stormtroopers staring at him.

“No,” she whimpered. Kylo turned away, ignoring her. He had made a decision that was best for everyone. He heard her footsteps behind him.

“Please. Let him out. Don’t hurt him.” Kylo stopped.

“It’s not your place to question.” He turned to her, reaching into her mind to gain the information he wanted. “SR-310 has been compromised. Your friendship is of no consequence.” He turned to look again at the pods through the window. It was the one that had reminded him of the traitor. He ground his teeth. Such petty relationships meant nothing. There was a broader issue here.

“What if he’s alright? What if they haven’t…”

“SR-486 you will report to the docking bay. I have informed your superiors to send you to reconditioning immediately.” Phasma’s stern pronouncement as she walked towards them was a relief. He had no desire to be burdened with the small lives of insubordinates.

Regret niggled at him. Kylo thought of Rey but pushed her image away. She’d left. It was for the best. Whatever crazy ideas he’d had were just that. Sentiment and compassion were for those not meant for greater things. He expected others to understand.

“Sir, General Hux has expressed a desire to inspect the facility before the pods are terminated.”

Kylo stiffened. The man was unimportant yet Snoke looked on him with favour. Given whom his family were that made some sense. Kylo didn’t want to give the man any satisfaction or precedent on countermanding his orders in the field. He turned back to Mitaka.

“How long will it take to fully shut down the facility and destroy the pods?” Mitaka consulted the files on his console.

“Shut down will take approximately twenty minutes. Destruction of the pods may take a little longer. I estimate an hour before everything has been dealt with.”

“Then he has that long to make his inspection.”

Kylo turned away again to go to the dock and wait for his shuttle. The Stormtrooper cowered with her head down. Her helmetless face reminded him of one last thing. He turned back to Mitaka.

“I need my mask back.” Mitaka swallowed but straightened his back.

“I will send a probe droid out immediately to look for it.”

Kylo ignored the lieutenant’s salute and strode back towards the stairs and the dock, ignoring the whimper from the woman. He had no more patience for trivialities.

His shuttle was coming in to land as he emerged from the bunker. The moment it landed and the ramp was down he strode out towards it, relieved to be back where he belonged. As soon as he was on board he would use the on-board facilities to clean up and make himself comfortable before he took to the air to find Rey. It would be easier to find her in his ship using the ship scans and the force than any other way. He would not return to Snoke without her.

Kylo ran a hand through his hair as he strode into his quarters, his fingers catching in his salt and sun wrecked locks. He caught a flash of his reflection in a chrome plated wall. He looked like a Dathomirian. His black matted hair poked up in spikes, eyes beetle black, scarred red face that was beginning to grow shadowed about his jaw, and his clothes ragged. He barely recognised himself. He wasn’t inclined to keep mirrors about and he preferred to keep his mask on so he rarely looked at his face.

And he’d kissed her looking like this. No wonder she left. He didn’t think his face could get any redder but it did. He headed straight for the ship’s cleansing chamber and turned the water to freezing.


	18. Chapter 18

Kylo took only the time necessary to ensure he was washed, his robes were refreshed and his burns were taken care of. He picked through some of the food stores, not caring what he ate as long as it restored his strength. He needed to get back out there and find Rey.

Rey and the heretic had taken a northern track in their escape. He instructed his pilot to launch and head in that direction. He went to the ships computer array and scanned for local landmarks and settlements and for moving objects. His calculations estimated that they may have made it fifty or so klicks by now.

There were three settlements among the patched landscape of forest and fields and a low mountain range that showed evidence of caves beneath. There were two small rivers and a number of tributaries in the direction they were heading so water wasn’t going to be an issue. They would be looking for cover from scanners. The settlements were open and small. Not much to hide in. He looked again at the range. He focussed on it, reaching out with the force. Yes. She was hard to locate and shifting but he recognised her brilliance in the force. He bit his lip and closed his eyes, breathing in as he focussed.

Her force signature grew shadowy. He continued to focus, reaching again. Yes, she had gone into the caves. He looked at the screen in front of him. The range had a series of caves. On the other side there was a larger settlement. He would prefer to get to her before she made it there but he would send in Stormtroopers if he had to. He focussed again. They had stopped.

“Sir. There is a message from Supreme Leader Snoke requesting that you return to the Finalizer.”

Kylo’s eyes opened and he lost his focus on Rey. He hissed out a breath.

“I am continuing the search for the girl. I will have her soon. How urgent is the request?”

“Sir, the message was that you come immediately,” the pilot said. Kylo clenched a fist and compressed his lips. In one swift move he swung out of his chair and found the reflective chrome plate. He made one diagonal slash across it, cutting his reflection in half. He turned and walked back towards the cabin.

“Set a course,” he muttered. The pilot sank into his chair and spoke in a less confident voice.

“Sir. The request included that Captain Phasma accompany you.” Kylo frowned. A feel of unease settled in his gut.

“Very well. We can collect her on the way.” Kylo knew better than to surmise on what the Supreme Leader wanted. Better to calm his mind and meditate. He would appear in a rational state of mind, removed from the challenges of the day. Perhaps he could convince Snoke he was performing as well as he hoped. As well as Kylo demanded of himself. He bowed his head. Who was he kidding? His grandfather would not allow failure of this kind. At least he knew where Rey and the heretic had gone to. He would inform the Supreme Leader and beg his indulgence to return and complete the search for her.

When they arrived back at the bunker Phasma was waiting. She had several Stormtroopers with her. He recognised those who had been with her in the original shuttle. He ignored them as they all boarded the ship. Phasma stopped at the slashed chrome panel and looked it up and down then moved on. He didn’t care what she thought about that.

“Sir I’ll be sending these to reconditioning as soon as we arrive,” Phasma stated. He gave her one curt nod then turned back to his console and scan results. He felt the Stormtrooper he’d so upset earlier, her fear and grief an unwelcome invasion of his attempt to achieve calm. Guilt tried to worm into his mind but he refused to acknowledge it.

“Sir.” The call came from outside. He turned and saw Mitaka standing in the boarding area holding his mask. Kylo was glad to see it.

“I didn’t get a chance to clean it up but I knew you would want it.” Kylo nodded. He took the helmet from the officer. Mitaka’s eyes flicked to the scored chrome panel behind him. The officer swallowed then saluted and made his way back down the boarding ramp.

Kylo looked at his mask. It sported a new score across the top, a tooth mark from the beast that had attacked the pod. It was clogged with salt and sludge. He handed it to one of the troopers.

“Clean this up.”

Kylo strode into his private chamber and found a seat. He’d spend his time gathering his thoughts and…

“It was her, the Jedi.” Kylo felt a flicker of irritation at the whispered voice near his door. He’d forgotten to close it.

“I heard she tied up Hux and ate his breakfast,” another said. Kylo pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger.

“Are you kidding? She tied him to his chair and tortured him with fruit pastry and Kylo Ren had to rescue him.” A smile threatened to tug at the corners of his mouth at that one.

“How do you torture someone with a fruit pastry?” Even Kylo didn’t have an answer for that one.

“How could Kylo Ren rescue him? I heard he was kidnapped by the Jedi.” He grimaced. That wasn’t as far from the truth as he’d like.

“No Hux stuffed him into an escape pod and sent him down to the planet because he finally lost it after Lord Ren and the Jedi trashed his command deck with their lightsabres.” Kylo’s eyebrows shot up then crashed into a scowl. This was getting out of control. He stood up to address the two Stormtroopers.

“Quiet,” Phasma barked outside. “You’ll both be getting an in depth reconditioning.”

Kylo sat back down. There was a knock on his door jam. He stood back up and approached the door. Phasma stood there with his mask. The two Stormtroopers cringed back against the wall opposite his quarters.

He waved a hand for her to put in on the desk. As she was about to leave a wail split the air from outside. Phasma charged out.

“SR-486, you will be silent.”

Kylo lifted a hand to close the door and allow Phasma to deal with her Stormtrooper but before he could she ran to the door and yelled at him.

“I won’t forget. I won’t forget him. I’d rather die.” Kylo, his face still unmasked, stepped towards her, ready to deliver a reprimand if needed. The Stormtrooper was also unmasked and so there was no barrier to the grief that washed through them both from her into the force. Her eyes looking up at him swam in tears, her mouth open in an appalling sob of misery. Her tortured visage tore into Kylo’s chest like it was a serrated blade. He could feel her despair and wanted to be free of it. His face was impassive but something shattered inside. Her grief had hit that fatal flaw that still undermined him. Ben was still there and had not been allowed to grieve. A crack appeared in the creature that was Kylo Ren. He couldn’t allow this to go on. He wrenched his lightsabre from his belt and ignited it, holding it in the air ready to descend in a deadly arc. The Stormtrooper looked up, anticipation in her eyes.

_Ben._

It was _her_ voice. A gentle whisper of regret. It hit him like cannon fire. It was all he could do not to collapse. He willed himself to be like stone. The eyes of the Stormtrooper who cowered before him saw her intention thwarted and filled with rage. He could feel her desperation. She leapt towards him, hands like claws aiming for his face. Phasma leapt towards her. On instinct Kylo brought his lightsabre down to a defensive position. The Stormtrooper saw her death a moment before she felt it. Kylo felt it before he saw it. Phasma’s arm circled her waist a moment too late. Even as she pulled her away from him she was gone, her heart bearing the smoking window to death his lightsabre had given her.

_Ben._

Her voice more insistent this time. Kylo stumbled back. It was only luck that allowed him to find his footing rather than topple backwards. His grip on the force had turned to dust. He tried to use a force push to shut the door but it did nothing more than creak forward then swing back to its original position. Phasma dragged the dead Stormtrooper away. The other two Stormtroopers were frozen in place. Kylo reached for the door and closed it. His whole body began to shake. He lurched back to his chair and by some miracle found himself sitting in it. He reached for his mask like it was a lifeline but couldn’t put it on. He sat with it in his lap, staring at the closed door as the ship left the atmosphere and headed for the Finalizer.

_Ben._

Her call grew faint. He looked up and about.

_Rey._

With terror in his heart he didn’t know if it was Kylo Ren or Ben Solo who called to her.

 

 

Rey paced with her hand pressing over the wound in her side. Thoughts tumbled through her mind. Kylo Ren, Ben, Finn, her sister. Yes, she had a sister too…but that was all she remembered. She had a feeling something happened to her. Rey shook her head. She couldn’t remember. Not for the first time it occurred to her she should remember more about her family but apart from a few details about their early life that was it. Finn needed her help and she couldn’t spare the time thinking about people she couldn’t even remember what they looked like.

“I have to look at that,” Solia said. Rey waved a dismissive hand.

“I need to find Luke and the others and tell them about Finn. You have to tell them what you know,” Rey said.

“I have to find my father,” Solia said. “But neither of us is going anywhere until I see to your blaster wounds. I don’t need you passing out on me at some critical moment.” Rey huffed and stopped.

“Fine. You can do that while you tell me exactly what you did to Kylo Ren,” Rey said. Solia began to poke around in her bag again. Rey removed her outer vest and pulled up her tunic. She poked gingerly at the burn and the spreading bruise and hissed when she was rewarded with a sharp pain. Solia applied wipes and bacta patches.

“What did you put on his wrist? I could have sworn it looked like a jewelled bracelet.” Solia grimaced.

“It is essentially. It belonged to my great grandmother, the Empress Edise.” Rey put a hand on Solia’s arm on which the bracelet now circled her wrist.

“It’s more than jewellery.” Solia looked down and sighed. She was silent for a moment.

“It’s a force block.” Solia wiped clean the blaster nick across Rey’s cheekbone, avoiding eye contact.

“And,” prompted Rey. She didn’t need the force to know Solia was holding back.

“And that’s it.”

“And it makes people do strange things perhaps.” Solia stopped and bit her lip.

“If you mean the kiss…no. That had nothing to do with the force block. That was all him. Well maybe…” She stopped and bit her lip again. Rey felt her cheeks heat up but pushed on.

“Maybe…” Rey tried to make eye contact with her.

“You didn’t look unhappy.” Rey snorted but she could feel the heat in her cheeks spread. Now they were both avoiding eye contact. She couldn’t quite suppress a smile even as she told herself the kiss was downright inappropriate. Rey still thought Solia was trying to avoid something. She crossed her arms over her chest.

“Maybe so, but there’s more to this. I want to know everything you did to him.”

Solia shoved her hand into her hair and grabbed a fistful while she chewed her lip.

“Alright. I know you know Luke Skywalker or you wouldn’t be here. I’ll tell him but right now – I can’t just blab it all out. You might walk among the living but your black knight back there walks with the dead. He’s got a hold on you so I can’t trust you,” Solia said.  Rey huffed and frowned. It was both an acceptable excuse and an affront. At least it was honest.

“Yeah I remember you saying something about him being a deathwalker. What did you mean by that?”

Solia waved a hand. “Walking among the dead is more accurate but you call it the dark side.” Rey put two and two together.

“And ‘the living’ refers to the light.” Solia nodded and went back to tending to the minor wounds on her face and shoulder.

“Well, next question. Finn. How can you help him?” Solia nodded.

“That’s a bit easier. The First Order raises their Stormtroopers from a very young age. They change their blood chemistry just enough so that it starts to break down without a regular dose of what is essentially an antidote. Without that they will go into multi-organ failure and die...” Solia stopped when she heard Rey’s gasp.

“Err…I have a copy of the required compound in my files on my data pad,” she tapped her bag and smiled. Rey let out her breath.

“So all you need to do is make up the compound and give it to him.” Solia raised an eyebrow.

“It’s not quite that simple. I’ll need a proper medical lab capable of separating different isotopes.” Rey knew she was out of her depth. This was Doctor Kalonia’s territory.

“They have full medical facilities back at the Resistance base.” Solia didn’t look convinced.

“Maybe I should make some here before you go and you can take it with you just in case.”

“What about the First Order,” Rey said. Solia’s face paled. She wrapped her arms about her and paced away. She turned and spoke.

“I was a hostage you know. I’m not usually kept in such awful circumstances but… anyway, my uncle, Zhark Demos, is forcing my father to make those cybernetic soldiers back there. He swore he never would but…” Solia’s voice wobbled and she fell silent for a moment. She took a breath and continued. “They’re just ordinary people you know, taken from their homes and families.” She shook her head and swallowed before she continued. “My uncle believes that the First Order has been weakened and that it will soon crumble and chaos will return.” Solia bowed her head in resignation.

Rey also looked down. That was what the Resistance and the Republic were trying to do.

“I’d be happy to see the First Order crumble,” Solia continued. “Our world has been impoverished by the First Order building their war machines. They care nothing for the ordinary people or their lives.”

Solia packed away all the bits and pieces she’d pulled out of her bag to treat Rey’s wounds.

“We have to go to Katigal city. That’s the only place with an equipped lab. On the other side of this range is a town where we can get transport. We can be there in a few hours. We can take a short cut through the caves but we’ll need to leave the speeder behind.” Rey had already decided they would need to get rid of it so Kylo couldn’t track them on it.

Before she could ask Solia anything more Rey felt a stab of anguish through the force. She had felt Kylo searching for her like background noise. She knew he was there but with the distance between them it had made it easier to put up some mental shields against him. At least that’s what she’d thought. Anger and fear rolled through her. It was Ben. Something was wrong. She couldn’t see Solia’s worried face as she shook her arm.

_Ben._

Guilt stabbed at her. She’d run from Kylo Ren but at the same time she’d left Ben behind. Shattering horror, confusion and shock slammed into her. Her pulse began to race as she felt terror replace the shock. She’d left him behind. She knew how that felt. To be left behind and to wonder why. Tears stung her eyes.

_Ben._

This was more than just anger or confusion at being left behind. Something was wrong and she could feel it. A shattering jolt of horror that stunned and numbed.

_Ben._

_Rey._

The voice through the force was faint and pitiful. Like a wounded animal filled with pain and helpless rage. Rey wrapped her arms about her ribs while the feelings carved a new hole in her chest. She had to go back. She had to find him. She had left Ben behind and it wasn’t going to be ok.

“Rey.” Solia’s voice penetrated her trance, her face resolving into clarity in front of her. The concern on her face said it all.

“I’m sorry. I…”

“He has a hold on you,” Solia said. “The force. It’s binds some together stronger than others. For some the bond is so strong...” Solia stared at her for a moment. “Perhaps I was wrong about him.”

Rey shivered in spite of the warmth. She knew there was still light there within him but the darkness held sway. Perhaps it wouldn’t always be that way.

“I have to go back,” she said. Ben needed her. She thought of Finn.

Grandfather. What do I do?

_He will find his way back to the living if you light his path._

That’s not quite what she expected to hear but then she could feel it was true.

How do I light his path?

_Do what you know to be right._

Rey huffed. You make everything sound so simple. Her grandfather was silent and Rey grimaced. It was up to her now.

Rey closed her eyes and breathed. For now, just for now, she reached out to him, to Kylo Ren. She let him take hold of her mind, felt his desperation, the darkness and his desire to possess and control. It was uncomfortable, smothering even but she bore with it for now. She shied away from his thoughts at first but reminded herself she was reaching out to him, whatever it took. She gasped and would have pulled away at the awful moment of the trooper’s death but he clung to her. She stayed with him. She could feel that he hadn’t meant for the trooper to die. She resisted the urge to go deeper where other, uglier moments of his life lay.

_Rey come back to me._

His plea squeezed her heart. She breathed and calmed herself and tried not to speak to him through the bond, if that’s what it was, just let herself flow to him. She buried herself into his heart and then pulled the light to herself. She didn’t try to do anything else, just be there in the force where he was. There was a trembling through the force as something in him melted just a little. Rey pulled away and he let her go.

Rey wasn’t sure what she’d just done but it was right. She just stood there and breathed in and out with her eyes closed until she felt like she’d fully returned. She opened her eyes to find Solia staring at her with her bottom jaw sagging towards the floor.

“Whatever you just did…wow, I could feel it even through the force block.”

Rey was silent for a moment, remembering his surprise. She smiled then shook her head, dispelling the feel of being so intimate with him. She firmed her resolve.

“The antidote for Finn. Katigal city. We need to go.”

The journey through the caves wasn’t as easy as she’d hoped. Solia had been able to bring up a map of the cave on her datapad but that wasn’t the same as actually knowing the caves.

Solia looked at the dark space before her, the light from her datapad illuminating a deep impassable cavern. Rey had dug out a light from her satchel that she had used searching shipwrecks. It didn’t show up any ways around the cavern either.

“I was so sure this was the way. The map said…” Solia’s voice trailed away. Rey extended a hand for the data pad. Solia gave it to her and Rey looked down at it. It seemed simple enough but Rey guessed they had come back to this point twice before and she was getting hungry.

“I don’t get it,” Solia said. “Tourists used to come here. People don’t get lost.”

 “Maybe we’ll find an old tour guide somewhere,” Rey said hopefully. Solia snorted.

“In better times maybe. Out here if you’re not in food production you get hauled off to the factories or the mines.”

Rey closed her eyes and reached out with the force. Caves were not quite the same as the bowels of a rusting star destroyer but the principle was much the same. There was a path that lead from where they’d come to where they needed to go. She could feel the faint tell of past travellers. Many travellers. The iterative power of their life force over many years leaving a trail she could sense. She turned and one step at a time she followed their passage.

Her foot kicked a stone on the cave floor. It shot off in a sideways angle, clattering over stones and hitting with a thud against the wall of the cave. Rey looked down, shining her torch to where the stone had stopped. A glint caught her eye. Fascinated she went over to pick it up. As she neared it she could feel a faint vibration. She stopped and looked about.

“What is it,” Solia said. Rey shook her head.

“Not sure.” Rey looked down at the stone again. She wanted to see it. Reaching down she felt the vibration again. It was the stone. She picked it up and held it in the palm of her hand. The vibration came from the stone. It was covered in dust but it still glowed softly in the light she shone on it. It felt warm and pure. Rey smiled and slipped it into her satchel for later.

“What was that?” Solia said.

“Some sort of crystal,” Rey said. “I’ll have a better look at it later.” Solia raised an eye brow but then she shrugged. Rey focussed again and found the thread of past travellers. So much easier than the map when she knew what she was looking for. She was surprised at how fast they made time now, emerging from the caves just as the sun was sinking below the horizon. They made their way in the twilight and then a sickle moon to the settlement below the caves.

“I know some people in this town. We can trust them,” Solia said. The town had a feel of old money but a recently impoverished look to it. Large homes with peeling paint and crumbling edges. People on the street had worn clothes and hard faces. Rey felt like she was in a tropical version of Jakku.

Solia knocked on a door of one of the largest houses. No-one came for a while but then there was movement behind the door before it opened a crack.

“Ena,” Solia said. The door opened a little more.

“Solia.” The male voice was gruff but held a hint of youth. Rey saw a shock of light brown curling hair and a thin build.

“Arnel, how are you,” Solia said. “Is Ena home?” Rey felt on edge. Something wasn’t right. Arnel didn’t shut the door but he didn’t open it for them to enter either.

“Don’t come in. If I never saw you I don’t have to report you,” he said. Solia looked bereft. Rey took the hint. She put a hand on Solia’s arm.

“Let’s go,” she said. Solia nodded and backed away. The door shut with a click. Rey hurried her along the street, looking around for any threats. Time to keep walking.

“My uncle must have found out about my escape. He’ll be watching everyone I know.”

 They rounded a corner. A harsh whisper came from a narrow alleyway.

“Solia.” It was the same voice from the house they were just turned away from. They stopped.

“This way. Before you’re seen.” Solia didn’t hesitate. Rey did. She put a hand on Solia’s shoulder and pulled her back from the entrance to the alleyway. It was too late though. Two men rushed from the alleyway and threw a large rug over them. Rey ignited her sabre and sliced a swathe through it so it slid down about them. Rey pushed Solia down as she swung the sabre, parting one man from his arm. A scream split the air and everything and everyone froze.

Rey held the sabre under Arnel’s chin.

“You can die or you can take us to Katigal city.” Arnel stared at her, his mouth opening and closing in the light of the sabre. Solia scrambled to her feet. The man who’d lost his arm whimpered as he crawled away. Rey felt a little stab of guilt for what she’d done to him but didn’t know how to back away from the path she’d chosen now that she’d started on it. Rey let the man she’d injured go, staying with the terrified man in front of her.

Arnel nodded, backing away towards the alleyway. Rey kept pace with him, not letting her sabre shift from beneath his chin.

“Please. Solia, I’m sorry. It’s just that you’re uncle has offered a reward for you.”Solia laughed.

“Oh has he. Nice of him. Well, I’ll give you a thousand dainars if you can get me to Demos Labs in Katigal city.”

Arnel laughed this time, high pitched and sharp. “That’s where he wants you taken but he offered two thousand.” Rey felt the subterfuge in his words. She recognised someone used to making deals and looking out for himself, taking every advantage.

“No he didn’t.” Rey lifted her sabre to hover over the man’s cheek. He was silent for a moment so Rey moved it a whisper closer.

“Alright, alright. He said if we didn’t bring you in he’d send his thugs to come back and kill us.” Solia gasped and was silent. Rey took over the negotiations.

“A thousand dainars and you get us to Katigal city. Take it or leave it.” Arnel leaned away from her sabre and she let him have some breathing space.

“Look, why don’t you just take the speeder out back and…”

“While you report us to my uncle. I don’t think so.” Solia darted forward. Rey jumped back out of the way as she used her tranquiliser again. To Rey’s surprise Arnel lost consciousness almost straight away. She was barely able to retract her lightsabre before she was catching him and lowering him to the ground. Rey looked about for the other man but he was gone.

“Come on. We better go. I hope you know the way,” Rey said. She strode down the alley way and found the speeder. This one was larger and faster than the one they’d stolen back at the cybernetic factory. One flick of her hand and the engine started. Armed speeders and troops were heading for their previous location as they pulled out of town and found the main road to Katigal city.

Solia sat silent and staring straight ahead in the seat next to her. Rey put a hand on her shoulder.

“Hardship changes people,” Rey said. Solia nodded, her face creased with wretchedness. Rey watched her for a moment and wondered if that was the same expression she’d had on her own face for most of her life.


	19. Chapter 19

Kylo Ren stood on the hangar deck of the Finalizer. He’d waited until Phasma removed the Stormtrooper's body before he emerged from his command ship. It must have been a hundred years since he was last here. His mask was back on but now it felt heavy on him. Everything weighed heavy on him. Since he’d chosen his path there had been so much death. He argued that it was necessary but that argument sounded thin.

The sounds around him were muffled by the thunder inside his head. His confident stride across the hangar to the lift belied the conflict within. Inside he was crumbling. Kylo Ren was in mortal danger because Rey, beautiful Rey, had set a bomb off in his heart. She hadn’t stabbed him in the back with his own lightsabre as in his nightmares. No. He’d as much as bared his chest and begged her to shoot him through with a laser cannon.

She’d come to him when he was weak and been so gentle. She’d buried herself deep in his heart, his soul, like she was sweet water in the dessert, gentle warmth in the snow and the coolest breeze in a blazing summer. He’d clung to her like she was purest gold and he a beggar. After the incident with the Stormtrooper he’d been rattled and sickened. The other man inside, still bleeding with grief and sorrow, had been there demanding to be heard and Kylo had been desperate to shore up the new man, the one who had a purpose and a destiny. He thought he could gain strength from Rey, from holding her for himself.

Then she’d brought the light, so strong so powerful and Kylo Ren had been like ice trying to survive in a volcano. She may as well have been a supernova going off inside of him. The most terrifying thing had been how much he’d loved it. It had felt better than anything ever had in his entire life. Kylo Ren had been in awe of her…and Ben Solo had breathed life like he never had before. He once thought he was being torn apart but now he was crumbling from the inside until Kylo Ren was just a shell.

He couldn’t face Snoke like this.

Kylo reached for his anger and his hate to gain strength from it. Rey’s light pulsed inside him and his hate disappeared like mist in the sun. He retreated in haste from it and instead opened his vault of pain just a crack to feed off it. He let the darkness rise to counter the light. Like an elixir of power he swallowed his pain to feed his anger and his anger to feed his hate and his hate gave him power and power gave him control. He had a purpose and a destiny and it was his and his alone.

And it sounded like an empty mantra that someone else had once said because he thought it meant something.

A lift arrived and he barked at the occupants to leave as he entered. With a collective gasp they all bolted for the door. He punched in his destination and stepped back. Now he stood motionless as he rose. Fear, dark and shameful, took hold of him and he leaned back against the wall behind him. He had failed. Like so many times before he had failed. He could not allow this failure to continue. Since the day he’d turned his back on his uncle and his family and committed his life to Snoke’s cause he’d been dogged by fears. Fear of failure, fear he’d gotten it wrong, fear that he would die for nothing.

He felt the shadow as though it were a creeping fog. He shuddered and welcomed it. He let it seep into his soul, a familiar friend that he could rely on. The power of the darkness. At last his grandfather had come to help him when he needed him most. Just as the light Rey brought had exploded within, this now enclosed him and shored up the hard man that was Kylo Ren. Failure was not his path. Darth Vader would not tolerate failure and neither would he. The restless man inside, Ben Solo, stilled and succumbed to the greater power that came to them both. Kylo breathed in and waited for the conflict to quiet. The light always brought turmoil and imbalance. As Snoke had said, he needed the dark to balance him. The lift stopped and Kylo Ren opened his eyes and pushed away from the wall. A whisper slipped from his lips.

“Thank you grandfather.”

He strode out, in control. The command deck was busy as usual. He stalked onto the deck, a predator looking for anyone that would dare unsettle his hard won composure. As a rule he ignored those beneath him unless he wanted something but now he watched them as they went about their business, feeling the little jumps of fear when they caught him watching them and feeding from it. The buoyant power of their fear of him soothed his own fears and blocked out the feelings and images that had so unsettled him. The light inside him retreated before the fear. He could spend a few moments staring down at a technician and feel her nervous tension grow. She relaxed as he moved on then almost cried out when he turned back.

Kylo stifled a sigh. He didn’t have time to toy with minions for his own benefit. He had a master to report to and he would not fail in gaining his favour to continue with his plans.

“Lord Ren.”

Kylo stopped and looked up, considering the young officer who waited outside Supreme Leader Snoke’s meeting chamber. Kylo smiled behind his mask when he saw the officer shiver. The pitch of his voice rose to a squeak when he spoke again.

“The Supreme Leader asked that you not be admitted until you were joined by Captain Phasma.”

Kylo felt a chill in his gut. It wasn’t like Snoke hadn’t made him wait before but this seemed calculated. Why Phasma? They had just been to the planet through impromptu circumstances. Perhaps he wished to hear both of their stories. They both also had secrets they wished to keep. Kylo felt his gut clench. Perhaps the Supreme Leader had found them out, or as often happened, he knew Kylo’s state of mind and guessed the rest and allowed Kylo to confirm it with his own stupidity. Kylo knew better than to try and feel out what the Supreme Leader’s state of mind was.

Frustrated and humiliated by Snoke’s command he glared at the officer. He clenched his fist and the officer’s hand flew to his throat as he tried to breathe.

“Lord Ren.” It was the Captain’s voice behind him. Kylo wasn’t willing to let go of the officer just yet though. He watched his eyes bulge and sweat appear on his forehead.

“Sir, we should not make the Supreme Leader wait.” Phasma’s words held respect but her tone was cold. Kylo ground his teeth and dropped the officer. He ignored him as he stumbled. The doors opened and he strode into the chamber. In the back of his mind he wondered where the malicious desire to hurt had come from. He’d liked the power that used other’s fear but it warred with the revulsion that he would stoop to this to save himself.

Kylo saw that Hux was already standing on the platform before Snoke’s podium. He glared at his back as their boots clumped against the hard black floor of the audience chamber. Phasma maintained a position a pace behind him.

Snoke was waiting. A towering image as he sat on his throne. His face was impassive, shadowed as always on the side where his injury was greatest. His piercing stare was aimed at Kylo. He sat back, his hands steepled in front of his chest. Kylo clamped down on his growing unease and kept walking. This pose he thought of as Snoke’s judgement seat. He felt the hair on the back of his neck prickle. With a sinking heart Kylo knew he was about to be judged and found wanting.

No doubt his sins were many. That he had not returned with the girl would be the greatest of these but what the others were he could only guess. They stopped on the platform before the Supreme Leader, Kylo standing on one side of Hux while Phasma stood on the other. Kylo flicked a glance towards Hux. He was frozen, his face a mask. Usually the man would direct a snide remark or sneer at him but he remained a statue.

“Captain Phasma. Step forward,” the Supreme Leader said. Phasma did as she was bid, ignoring Kylo and Hux. Kylo’s unease flared into paranoia. His offense was great if he was made to wait before he was addressed.  

“Tell me about the Jedi Padawan,” Snoke said. Kylo felt a jolt as he thought of Rey. In that moment he thought of the power of her light within him. He pushed down the fear that Snoke would see it and feel it.

“We were shot down and taken captive by the Guavian criminals, they used a gas against us, they separated the males and females. The males were taken away and the females locked in cages outside. The girl appeared later and used her lightsabre to open the cages we were in. Kylo Ren also appeared and attacked the Guavians. The girl fought beside Kylo Ren, myself and my Stormtroopers to overcome the Guavian force. After our victory she escaped into the jungle with one of the captives before backup arrived. I heard the captive state that her father was responsible for the cybernetic soldiers.”

Snoke’s visage had drawn down further and further into a scowl as she spoke. She had taken a liberty in expanding her description but Phasma didn’t let his displeasure phase her. The Supreme Leader’s steepled hands tilted forward until the tips of his fingers pointed towards her like a spear.

“And what did you do to stop their escape.”

“Sir, the girl was able to repel our efforts to capture her through the use of the force. The woman she rescued was also armed. She was able to render Kylo Ren unconscious using a device that wrapped about his wrist and a tranquiliser.”

Kylo ground his teeth as he listened to her bland description of what had happened. To be so weak. His wrath rose against her for her theft of his opportunity to explain for himself what happened. He knew better than to show his anger before Snoke.

As his anger rose, Rey’s light flickered. Kylo squashed it quickly, fear covering it like a blanket.

_Ben, it’s me._

The whispered memory in his mind startled him. The gaze of the Supreme Leader flicked to him but he was not asked to speak so he remained silent.

“The device that she used against Kylo Ren, what was it?”

Phasma was silent for a moment, unmoving.

“I don’t know. It looked like a jewel bracelet. His usual power was incapacitated by it.”

The Supreme Leader leaned back, his hands parting, one resting on the armrest of his throne the other forming a fist. He lowered his fist and opened his hand to rest on the other side of his throne.

“A force block. Interesting.”

_I won’t forget him._

Kylo Ren felt a tremor inside him. The Stormtrooper’s voice sounded like his own.

_Ben, it’s me._

_I won’t forget him._

Kylo breathed in a calming breath. For all his cocky assurance in his power from the dark side nothing had changed. He was still flawed and weakened by his foolish desire for Rey. He didn’t know where the first voice came from but it sounded too familiar for comfort and the second sounded more and more like his own.

“Tell me about the Stormtrooper,” Snoke said.

Kylo looked up wondering if Snoke was addressing him but he still looked at Phasma. Like Hux beside him he was compelled to remain silent.

Phasma was silent for a moment as though she were uncertain. They all knew which Stormtrooper he referred to, they just weren’t sure why.

“SR-486 was killed after the battle when she became hysterical.”

It puzzled Kylo that Phasma refrained from revealing that it was Kylo who had killed her. Perhaps Snoke already knew. A scowl darkened the Supreme Leader’s already twisted features.

“This is not the first time a Stormtrooper has failed in their duty,” Snoke hissed. He leaned closer. Phasma appeared unmoved in her armour but Kylo could feel her tremble through the force.

“The galaxy will bow to the authority of the First Order but only if it knows the hand of justice and retribution is strong.”

“Yes, Supreme Leader.” Phasma didn’t offer any other explanation but Kylo could feel the alarm behind her pragmatic statements. Kylo felt Hux’ fear and aggravation rise beside him. It was one of Snoke’s most effective reprimand’s to keep a person silent and waiting while matters relating to them were discussed. Hux was the Stormtrooper program’s strongest advocate. Now Phasma’s honest answers were the only thing staving off the inevitable.

“My Stormtroopers are the extension of my hand. They have no expectations of their own.” The Supreme Leader sighed in a show of benevolence. “I have given them a life and a purpose beyond anything they might have expected from the poverty they were taken from.”

Kylo wasn’t sure that all of them had been poor and destitute, living the life of beggars and scavengers as was claimed.

“Now a young Jedi padawan has given them ideas. A vain hope of freedom. A most cruel delusion. There is no freedom, there is only destiny. Their destiny is to serve the First Order.”

Kylo thought of his own destiny as Snoke had laid it out for him. To complete his grandfather’s work and bring order out of the disorder created by the republic and justice out of the injustices ignored by the Jedi. It was the only thing that made sense after what happened. At least it had done.

“The young Jedi must be destroyed before she causes any further damage.” Snoke turned to him. Kylo felt as though a steel band circled his heart and was growing tighter and tighter.

_It’s me, Ben._

_Rey, come back to me._

He tried to remain impassive as though his mind was not reeling from Snoke’s statement and the thoughts that intruded on his mind. This had not happened since…

_Take off that mask._

He squeezed his eyes shut behind his mask.

The words were not hers but they echoed in his mind in her voice. The thoughts were so loud he was sure they would betray him at any moment. He reached for the force in whatever way it came to calm himself and stand unmoved.

“Hux. Inform us all of how negotiations are going with the Dastronian Representative.”

Hux coughed and sucked in a breath as though he had just been released from an airless room. Kylo felt another prickle of fear. He had not realised Snoke was holding the man in check until now.

“Supreme Leader, Representative Zhark Demos has disappeared. I have my best officers and troopers investigating his whereabouts.”

Snoke leaned back and steepled his hands again.

“Your analysis of the situation regarding the completion of the fleet replacements.”

“Supreme Leader, the order is delayed due to the commandeering of money and resources to build a personal army for Representative Demos. We are currently analysing the manufacturing process regarding the cybernetic enhanced soldiers. Although Lord Ren ordered them destroyed I believe they should be studied first. I need to send in technicians and droids to assist with the analysis and to cut through the encrypting we have encountered.”

Snoke waved an impatient hand.

“I agree that the cybernetic soldiers should be destroyed. Their loyalty will be with the Dastronian Representative, not the First Order. I also agree that the manufacturing process should be investigated. You have resources at your disposal, use them.”

“Yes, Supreme Leader.” Hux saluted. He seemed to realise at the last moment before turning and leaving that he hadn’t been dismissed. He wobbled for a moment before maintaining his position, his eyes wide with alarm.

Snoke was silent. He stared into the void above their heads.

“Each of you have enjoyed my favour,” Snoke said. “I expect you to return that favour. Your undivided devotion to the First Order and its cause.” Kylo knew the message was aimed at him. Whatever sins the other two had, they would never be as great as his own. He had already demonstrated his foolishness with Rey, more than once. Whatever strength he’d found in the past six months she’d wreaked havoc with it in just a day.

_Rey, come back to me._

The words were a plaintive cry that echoed softly in his mind.

_Take off that mask._

“General Hux, you will find the Dastronian Representative and bring him to me. You are dismissed.”

“Yes, Supreme Leader.” This time the General snapped off a precision salute and turn before he marched from the audience chamber.

Once again Snoke was silent as he stared above their heads. Kylo was not sure why the Captain had not also been dismissed.

“Do you remember when she was young, this girl who aspires to be a Jedi.”

Kylo knew he was being spoken to now. Snoke’s words were deceptively mild.

“Yes.”

“She still believes her family left her on Jakku.”

“Yes.”

“What does she remember?”

“Very little. She barely remembers any of her family. I feel the memories slip away from her even as she tries to remember them.” Snoke was silent for a moment.

“She does not remember the moment in the temple when she took the lightsabre from her brother’s grasp nor his fury afterwards.”

Kylo didn’t wish to open these old memories. He’d been good at blotting out what he didn’t want to think about himself. The difference was that he could remember what happened if he wanted to.

“No.”

Snoke watched him with keen eyes.

“The child that was lost when you tried to bring her to me. I alone believed that you had not killed her. Now here she is.”

“Yes.”

“I remember your uncle’s words. So harsh. But you could not reveal to him the truth that she would have been safer with me so that is where you took her. You did what was right but what did they do. They accused you of something monstrous. They thought you killed her as punishment for the death of her family, worse they accused you of killing her to get the lightsabre back.”

Kylo was silent, the old hurt and humiliation. His uncle’s accusation that he had caused the death of the entire Kenobi family. His guilt that he was right. Her parents and her sister had died in the temple and he had killed her brother. He had not killed Rey though and it hurt more than anything that his uncle, his mother and his father had thought that he had. When she disappeared he thought they might be right, that she was dead somewhere. He could not find her in the force but he felt sure she wasn’t dead.

“I believed you that you had not killed the child, that she was merely lost. And now we’re both proved right.”

Snoke had been a shelter in the storm that day.

“I have always been grateful that you helped me,” Kylo said. So much didn’t add up about that day. He still didn’t understand how the temple had collapsed nor did he understand how he’d lost Rey but it had happened.

“From that day you were distrusted by many. Your uncle refused to continue your training. Your mother suspected you and even your father.”

Kylo felt his heart tear. The memory of his father rushed at him from his mind, jolting him, his hand upon his face before he fell away, forever gone. Only now did he recognise the love in his father’s eyes in that last moment. Terror overtook him that he had been wrong and now he would never have the opportunity to make things right with his father.

“I was closer to you than your own father. I taught you what your uncle would not. I told you the truth about your grandfather. The truth that your mother refused to tell you.”

“Yes.” Kylo knew this was true but he didn’t want it to be. A bitter bile rose within him that Snoke was the one there for him and not them.

“Now she is here to take it all away from you.”

Kylo frowned. “I do not understand.”

Snoke smiled down at him.

“I have known you all your life Kylo. I saw your value right from the beginning. I was there to guide you. I would have had the girl learn beside you. Together you would have been magnificent but now…” Snoke sighed. “She is poisoned by your uncle’s teachings. Now she is your enemy. Now she has the power to kill you and kill you she will.” Snoke’s visage darkened.

“I will not have all that I have strived to make right destroyed. She has already weakened you my son. She will steal your destiny and corrupt your power. I can feel it already. She has given you a grievous wound.”

Kylo shuddered. It had always been thus that Snoke knew his deepest wounds and scars.

“Yes.”

Snoke leaned down and stared into his soul. Kylo felt exposed, laid bare.

“I must remove from you the imbalance she has created.”

Kylo felt his stomach clench and his skin over his entire body prickle. No. He shut down the rising horror in his mind.

“You are wise Supreme Leader. You know what must be done.”

Kylo stood in silence. Captain Phasma was like a statue on the other side of the platform. Why was she still here?

“Remove your mask,” Snoke said. Cold fingers of fear took hold of his spine. He forced himself to reach up and unlatch his helmet and remove it. It had felt claustrophobic before but now he wished it remained where it had been. He held it in one hand against his chest.

“Remove your surcoat and gambeson.” Kylo began to tremble. He breathed and tried to calm himself. It was an extra humiliation to have to appear half dressed before his master.

“Captain Phasma, assist Kylo Ren,” Snoke said. Kylo froze, his hand about to reach for the fastening on his belt. The chrome statue came to life but did not rush to his side. She reached out and he gave her his mask. He unclipped his belt and lightsabre and handed them to her. He did not look at her and her masked face didn’t incline towards him. That at least was something.

He shrugged out of his surcoat and laid it over his mask, belt and sabre in her outstretched arms. He undid his gambeson, removed it with determination and laid it on top of his surcoat. He turned and faced Snoke, now wearing just the sleeveless under-shirt, his trousers and boots.

“Kneel.” Kylo looked straight ahead as he lowered himself to one knee then both. Phasma stepped back, leaving him alone in his space.

Snoke reached a gnarled hand towards him. He felt it first like a white hot knife piercing his stomach. He gritted his teeth and locked his muscles against the pain. He couldn’t stop the jolt of agony that shot through him. He felt his muscles and blood vessels bulge out as the pain spread in his gut and began to rise through his chest. His pulse hammered in his ears. He wanted to scream and fight the intrusion but he held himself in place with all that he had.

A dark numbing cold followed the pain. This was Snoke. Kylo began to shiver. He could feel it like a hand unfurled inside him, reaching out to grasp the light that dwelt there. Rey’s light. Kylo could feel that glow inside him grow as it stood in stark relief against the dark quicksilver of Snoke’s power. Snoke clamped his power around it and pulled.

No. This was Rey’s light. He didn’t want to let it go.

_Rey, come back to me._

Snoke increased his power but he could not dislodge the light from within him.

A roar from Snoke exploded in his ears.

“You resist me.” Kylo nearly collapsed in fright. Had he.

“No. I would not resist…”

“It is worse than I thought,” Snoke hissed. His master’s scowl sent a shiver of fear through him.

Snoke closed his eyes and reached in again. Kylo found himself on his hands and knees feeling as though his heart were being torn from his body. He could not breathe. His heart stuttered.

Snoke’s power surrounded the light and began to squeeze, crushing it until Kylo thought his heart would turn to ashes.

_Ben, it’s me_.

The words felt like a lifeline. Was it her or was it someone else. In the crushing pain that filled him he reached for the words, desperate for their help. If he could just hold onto them he might survive this.

Snoke roared again, Kylo didn’t hear what he said. His mind was spinning and his body was being crushed. He clung to whatever bit of life he could just to survive. Like a mindless fleeing animal he knew he had to hold onto that bit of light if he was going to endure this.

The first bolt hit him on his back and sent him crashing into the floor.

“Release the light she gave you. Don’t let me destroy you.”

Kylo didn’t know what he was doing wrong. He wasn’t resisting Snoke’s power but he was desperate to hold onto even a little bit of Rey if he could.

The air about him went live with electricity. It crackled across his bare skin, ripping through his defences and leaving him thrashing in agony. The acrid smell of smoke assaulted his nostrils. The bolts didn’t come straight from Snoke’s hand now. They came up through the floor where he had collapsed and he caught their full force. Each ragged pulse ripping through him as white hot fire.

His agonised screams were shut off as his body seized and thrashed. His mind was nearly gone but in sheer desperation he held onto Rey’s light. It was all he could do.

The electricity crackling in his ears grew faint and the smell of smoke no longer tortured him. He began to slide away. He didn’t know where. He was dying. It had to be. No-one could endure that onslaught. Snoke had had to destroy him. He would have liked to have seen Rey one last time.

_Ben_

He didn’t think about his name at first just wondered what the word was doing there in his mind.

_Ben, it’s me._

_I won’t forget him._

Those words again. The pain was gone. Everything was gone. He was dead at last. He wondered what it looked like, this place of destruction.

He opened his eyes. He frowned. He lay against a chest with large arms about him that wore a coat he recognised.

“I think we have him.” A voice that sounded old and young. Like it was innocent and held the wisdom of too many years. Kylo turned and looked into his uncle’s eyes and his mother’s smile.

“You can let him go now.” The man said.

“No. It’s going to be a long time before I get to hold my son again. I’m not letting him go just yet.”


	20. Chapter 20

Kylo stared in bewilderment at the man with his mother’s smile and his uncle’s eyes. This couldn’t be happening.

“Ben, do you know who I am,” the man said. Kylo shook his head, not because he didn’t know but because he didn’t believe it. He’d seen a picture of him in the Empire’s archive but it hadn’t seemed real. Not like the man in front of him now.

Kylo didn’t want to look up at the other man whose arms were around him. The one he knew was dead. He’d haunted his memories since that day. Every effort to block him out became futile. Kylo ignored the lump in his throat and focussed on the man who’d spoken.

“You look like Anakin Skywalker,” he said. The man smiled but shook his head.

“You used to call me grandfather when you were little.” Kylo trembled and looked away. It wasn’t Anakin Skywalker Snoke had taught him to revere but Darth Vader. He didn’t know what to say. The words were jammed in his throat. He didn’t know what this was. Whatever expectations he may have had, they were like smoke in the wind. None of this made sense.

 “Where am I,” Kylo said.

“You’re not dead, if that’s what you mean.”

The voice was how he remembered. Kylo’s breathe was cut off by the expanding lump in his throat. He squeezed his eyes shut as a shudder spread through him. He was too pained and ashamed to look up at the other man who spoke. Why was he here? He shouldn’t be here. He pulled away and looked down. Every angry word he ever had to say to him was silent, drowned by the memories from Starkiller base and an act that had brought anything but the freedom and power promised. Guilt and loss had eaten at him daily until the misery of it was like a constant unwelcome companion.

“Enough of that Ben. It doesn’t matter here,” his father said, his voice gentle and gruff. Kylo shook his head. That wasn’t true. It mattered too much. His hands trembled as he remembered their grip on his lightsabre. Snoke whispering in his head to kill his father. Ben screaming back at him not to do it. The seductive possibility that he could just leave with his father and the fear that if he did he would lose everything. That dark feeling of power that came after the sun went out. The look on his father’s face as it changed from love, to uncertainty, to horror, to sad acceptance and back to love. His own horror when he realised his father was truly gone. He bowed his head, unable to look up.

“How can you say that? After what I did, I’m not you’re son. I can’t be.”

His father put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. Kylo didn’t want to hide from this anymore and so he looked up. He trembled as he watched his father’s features crinkle in that same old way as a sad smile spread across his face.

“You’ll always be my son Ben, whatever you did.”

Kylo sucked in a breath, his heart swelling until he thought it would explode. The words he wanted to hear but would never deserve.

“No. I’m a monster. What I did…”Kylo couldn’t continue. He backed away, almost chocking on the words.

“I’m not saying what you did was okay Ben. I’m saying I love you more than that.”

Kylo stopped. He felt his knees give way and he reached out. His father’s hand fit into his. Something cracked inside him. It couldn’t be this simple. His father moved closer, his hand reaching out to Kylo’s face as he’d done once before. Kylo ached inside. In his weakest moments he’d craved to feel that touch again.

“Ben, I already forgave you, I was anything but the perfect father, but there are many who won’t forgive. That will always be you’re struggle.” The ache in Kylo’s heart grew unbearable and he trembled. Until now forgiveness wasn’t something he’d sought. He knew it would never be given so he’d cut himself off from the possibility. But what if…no. The possibilities were too painful to hope for. His father was right. Not everyone would forgive. He took a shaky breath and let it out. There were some he hoped might though.

They stood, silent, his father’s eyes burning with love until Kylo couldn’t take it anymore and he crumpled against his father’s chest and wept. A gentle arm circled about his shoulders and a hand cradled the back of his head. He hadn’t been held like this since he was a small child crying after a nightmare.

When at last they pulled apart something had changed in him but Kylo wasn’t sure what. He felt something he hadn’t felt for a long time. Joy. He trembled with it. He couldn’t stop the smile on his face. He stared at his father like he was seeing him for the first time.

“I don’t understand why you’re here. Without the force you can’t come back.”

His father laughed. “Don’t ask me. Ask him.” Han gestured towards Anakin. “He’s the one balancing the force.” Kylo leaned back, puzzled.

“What.”

Anakin waved a dismissive hand. “It didn’t take much to shift the balance a little and bring you here too.” Anakin’s face grew serious. “Keeping Ben here when he’s not actually dead, that will take some working out.” Anakin crossed his arms and spoke a little louder, like someone else was listening. “It needed to be done.”

Kylo looked about but there was no-one else. As he looked he realised they were in a grassy meadow bordered by trees and steams beneath an azure sky with wispy white clouds.

“I know this place. We’re on Naboo.”

“Not quite, but it looks like Naboo,” Anakin said. Kylo looked at his grandfather, confused.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re in the Force. Naboo is my favourite place though so I thought it might be nice to come here for our reunion.”

Kylo’s mouth dropped open. He could have sworn…

“Ben. Look at me,” Anakin said. Kylo shook his head. Whatever he felt now about his father hadn’t changed anything else. Doubts crowded out his joy. He still wasn’t who they wanted him to be. He’d built a person who was nothing like the son they’d lost. Violent and evil. How could he change that?

“I’m not Ben. I’m Kylo Ren.”

“Here in the Force you know who you are Ben. You can’t be anyone else but who you are.”

Kylo looked at the two men. Snoke had taught him all the reasons why he should hate Anakin Skywalker and Han Solo.

“You’ve been told many lies about me Ben,” Anakin said. Kylo shook his head.

“Snoke told me the truth about you.”

Anakin snorted.

“Snoke was a liar from the beginning. That miserable wretch you reverently call Darth Vader is dead. I killed him. I have many regrets but that’s not one of them.”

Stunned, Kylo stared at his grandfather.

“No. Uncle Luke killed you. He’s the one who made you fall and lose your way.”

Anakin laughed, a tender look on his face.

“Luke was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Kylo shook his head.

“No. You had a great destiny. The Emperor…”

“Destiny,” Anakin snarled. “The Emperor commanded Luke to kill me. My destiny, as you call it, was at an end.”

Anakin leaned closer, his eyes sad and his expression grave.

“Just like _your_ destiny is at an end.”

Kylo stared at his grandfather with no words to say. Snoke had all but killed him before he came here. Was he going to get rid of him now? Cold fear seeped into his gut and he shivered.

“Snoke is about to take the power that he craves Ben and when he does you will be replaced with someone else.” Anakin extended his hand towards the horizon and a new scene appeared about them. Kylo stepped back again as he looked about. He didn’t recognise the place, high up and industrial, but he recognised the woman. She held his lightsabre. Kylo felt betrayed as she darted forward, her face full of anger and hate. He could see the darkness inside her growing like a stain pushing all the light out until it filled her. He stepped back but it was too late. The red shaft of his lightsabre pierced him through. Pain ripped through him, choking out his life. It was his nightmare from long ago. The one he’d been trying to stop, except this time he could see who it was who held his lightsabre. He looked into her eyes and though they looked the same, it wasn’t her. Instead he saw a terrifying monster.

“Rey.” His voice was a breathless whisper as he said her name. In his heart he knew he’d done all he could but it had changed nothing.

The scene faded and they sat in a field on Naboo again. Kylo shuddered as horror took hold of him. Anakin put a hand on his arm.

“Snoke will turn her to the dark side but she will never turn back. Even he won’t be able to control the fiend he creates.”

“No,” Kylo murmured. For all his efforts to seduce her to the dark side he didn’t want this to happen anymore. She had to remain in the light. He didn’t care if he died but he would rather go to hell, be forever lost from the Force, than to see her become the monster instead.

“You love her, don’t you,” his father said. Kylo trembled and nodded. It was true.

“That’s because you’re a Skywalker, Ben. It runs in your blood to fall hopelessly in love.” Anakin grinned like he knew too well what he was talking about. His father also wagged a finger at him.

“No different for Solo’s and your case is just as bad as the rest of us. Almost from the first time you saw her. ”

Kylo closed his eyes and pictured Rey. Her smile. Her eyes, bright and intelligent. The sweet taste of her lips against his. Her light pulsed gently inside him. He reached towards her. She was still ok. Wherever she was she was still in the light.

“She has always been my weakness,” Kylo said. Anakin shook his head and laughed, his eyes sparkling.

“She’s not your weakness Ben. She’s your salvation.”

Kylo blinked then gasped at the thought. Rey’s light pulsed again and he laughed too. Then he remembered, pain overtaking the warmth.

“But she’s going to fall to…” He didn’t want to say the words in case giving voice to it made it true.

“The vision is a strong possibility Ben but there’s still a chance to change it. For you and for her,” Anakin said. Kylo felt a little spark of hope. Yes. It was only a possible future. His pulse jumped and his eyes darted to his grandfather.

“What do I do?”

Anakin grinned.

“You’ve already started doing it Ben. You’re resisting Snoke. This is what I’ve been waiting for. It’s what we’ve all been waiting for. You have to resist Snoke. Only then will you be able to see clearly.”

Anakin’s face grew serious again. He reached out a hand and touched Kylo’s chest. Rey’s light pulsed and Kylo bathed in its warmth.

“There is one more thing,” Anakin said. His grandfather’s fingers sank into his chest but Kylo felt nothing more than a tingle. When he pulled them out a bright glow floated in the palm of his hand.

“Obi-Wan would cut my legs off again if I let Snoke get a hold of this.”

Kylo felt as though the sun had set in his heart and he shivered. He stared at Rey’s light, bereft without its warmth. In truth he knew this is what Snoke had been trying to take from him. He looked at his grandfather.

“Don’t worry. You’ll get it back the moment Snoke is gone. It belongs to you.” Anakin looked at him, his gaze piercing.

“You must never let Snoke get a hold of this.”

Kylo looked at it, already missing its presence in his heart.

“Don’t worry. You still have the light I gave you,” Anakin said. Kylo blinked.

“What. What light?”

“The light you keep fighting.”

Kylo put a hand to his chest.

“I don’t understand. When you come to me and you show me the power of the darkness…”

“That’s not me. That’s Snoke.”

Kylo stared, mouth open. Something shifted beneath him.

“But Snoke told me that it was my grandfather, Darth Vader.”

“As I said, Snoke was a liar from the beginning. Darth Vader is dead. There is only me, Anakin Skywalker.”

The truth of it all burned in Kylo’s heart, white hot and irrefutable. Snoke’s deception and his grandfather’s presence in the light he always fought. The brightness of this realisation set aflame the man that was Kylo Ren. Rey’s light had caused Kylo Ren to crumble from the inside but this one truth burned until it consumed him. He wasn’t Ben Solo, the frightened boy. He wasn’t Kylo Ren, the man so full of hate. He didn’t know who he was but he was someone different, someone new. He looked down at Rey’s light still resting in his grandfather’s hand. Whoever he was he was meant to follow the light, not the darkness.

“Ben,” Anakin’s voice sounded far away. “Luke was right about me. He’s right about you too. Listen to him.”

Kylo looked about for his father and grandfather. They were getting further away. He tried to follow them but he couldn’t move.

“Don’t be afraid. You have the light, trust in it.”

“Come back,” Kylo cried out before he felt an arching pain through his chest. It smashed the breath from his chest but he strained to hear his grandfather’s final words.

“Ben, do what I did at the end. Save the Jedi.”

The words faded as pain took over. He was lying on the ground feeling like his body was being ripped apart. White heat channelled through him like a million tiny lightsabres were piercing his body. His mouth was screaming but his lungs had no air left and so no sound came out.

The blinding heat stopped. His ears rang. Smoke filled his nostrils and burned his throat. His body ached and his skin burned. He welcomed the pain. It meant he was still alive. He’d survived.

He was curled in a foetal position on the floor of Snoke’s audience room.

“Kylo Ren.”

The voice boomed in his ear, too loud. The name didn’t sound like his but he knew he was supposed to respond to it. He dragged in a shaky breath. Before he could stop it a sob escaped his throat. He clamped his mouth shut and breathed through his nose, trying hard to calm himself. He remembered the light. He sought it out. That tiny bright pearl that had always been there, that he and Snoke had tried so hard to cover over and block out. Now he closed his eyes and looked down at it in his mind. He reached for it.

_Not yet_

He pulled back and let himself remain in limbo.

“Kylo Ren. Get up.”

His body burning and protesting he rolled over onto his stomach. He took another breath and pushed up onto his hands and knees. His mind threatened to black out and he leaned forward, his face in his hands. A tremor overtook him and he clamped down on it.

“Get up on your feet.”

Kylo took a deeper breath this time. His throat was dry and the cool air felt like sandpaper. With all of his strength he pushed up onto his hands and knees then rocked back onto his haunches.

Straight away he toppled backwards. He roared in pain and frustration as he fell back to the ground, his burned skin slapping down on the floor and his aching body jarring. From the corner of his eye he saw Phasma still stood in her place. She wouldn’t make the mistake of helping him.

He wasn’t going to be beaten. A simmering anger began to curl into his gut. He reached for the force in whatever way it came and forced his mind and body past the pain to roll and push up onto his hands and knees. This time he took it slower and centred his balance better. His feet apart and clinging to the force he commanded his body to rise and stand. He didn’t quite trust himself to turn fully and face Snoke but he did it anyway, in tiny steps.

When he looked up at the towering figure above him he remained impassive and waiting but inside he could feel his anger harden.

“Master of the Knights of Ren.”

Snoke stared down at him, his gaze cold and hard, like he was waiting for him to fail one last time. Kylo didn’t trust himself to speak so he inclined his head in acquiescence. Snoke lifted a finger, pointing at him in accusation.

“The light that so imbalanced you has been removed.”

Kylo didn’t allow himself for a moment to think about how it was gone. He focussed on his anger and let that cover over all other thoughts. He spoke but his voice rasped in protest.

“Yes Supreme Leader.”

Snoke leaned back, his eyes hidden by the darkness and his face emotionless.

“Two Knights of Ren are on their way here to assist you in capturing the Jedi.”

Kylo looked up, his heart lurching into an odd rhythm. He knew their presence was meant as a reprimand and a threat. He held tight the reigns of his temper. He would not be the unhinged wretch he had been, letting his anger direct his actions. He pulled his shoulders back and stood straight.

“You wished me to kill her,” he said.

Snoke was silent for a moment. Kylo didn’t want to hear the answer but he had to.

“You will.” Kylo looked down, an involuntary swallow pre-empting his efforts to remain unaffected. He reigned in his rage that he would be denied so unequivocally her presence in his life. He didn’t allow himself to think of any other possibilities than complete obedience to Snoke’s word. Instead he focussed his hate to cover his true feelings.

Snoke’s face twisted into a smile.

“If you’re willing to give her up then you will indeed do well by my side,” Snoke said. Kylo remained unmoved.

 “For now you will go to Katigal City and assist in the search for the Dastronian Representative. The Knights of Ren will join you there.”

“Yes, Supreme Leader.”

Snoke flicked a hand and his image disappeared. Kylo stood unmoving on the audience platform. He breathed in and out until his heart rate calmed. He let the anger seep away. His hand went to his chest where Rey’s light should have been. He felt cold and empty without it. He remembered the other light and reached towards it. There it was. A pearl of brightness. He recognised it with an odd sense of chagrin. He’d fought it so hard over the years.

“I thought you were dead.”

Kylo jumped. He’d forgotten Phasma was still there. He allowed his simmering anger to return. Why had she been chosen to witness his humiliation?

“I think Snoke did too.” She shook her head. “He was so angry, like he thought you had died on purpose.”

Kylo looked at her. He didn’t understand why she would say that but then he never did get too concerned by what she thought. She was just another piece in the First Order machinery. And so it seemed was he. For all of Snoke’s words that he had a destiny in reality his place was just to be another piece of Snoke’s power machine.

Phasma extended his clothes towards him.

“Get dressed.”

It was a painful process to put his clothes back on over his abused skin and aching body. Heavy and constrictive, his robes and mask were meant to conceal who he was but they held him captive as much as any prison. He wasn’t sure who he was now so he allowed appearances to stay the same. They didn’t matter anymore.

What mattered was the truth and he hadn’t been living by it for years. He stood staring at the empty dais where the image of Snoke had been. He thought Snoke had the truth but he’d told Kylo even more lies than his family.  

_Luke was right. Listen to him._

Kylo’s shoulders slumped and he bent to put his hands over his face. The mask was in the way. He wanted to rip it off and destroy it but he stopped himself. The light within pulled at him and this time he went with it. It didn’t make him stronger, he’d tried so hard to be stronger, but it did clear his mind. He’d made so many mistakes. He thought of his uncle Luke. He’d betrayed a man who had wanted so much for him. He thought of his mother and how he’d taken so much from her. He thought of Rey. Yes he loved her but he had to do better than that for her. All the things he needed to make right.

He thought of his father and his anger soared. This one thing he didn’t lay entirely at his own feet. He promised himself that Snoke would also pay for his loss. Kylo had been so eager to prove himself worthy of being Darth Vader’s heir. That mere family would not stand in the way of destiny. Snoke had fed this to him for years.

_Snoke was a liar from the beginning._

Kylo turned away from the dais and in his heart he turned away from Snoke. He stepped down from the audience platform, leaving Phasma to follow or stay as she wished.

“Have you ever doubted what we’re doing here,” Phasma said.

Kylo looked at her. For once he was curious what she thought.

“What do you mean?”

“The First Order is going to bring back the order and strength of the galactic Empire. That’s right isn’t it.”

“Yes,” he said.

Phasma stopped. He stopped too.

“I never doubted until SR-486 threw herself on your lightsabre.”

Kylo frowned behind his mask. He regretted the Stormtroopers death and it bothered him that so many of them died without so much as a kind word or a ceremony or someone to mourn their loss.

“I never meant for her to die. I thought seeing the lightsabre would be warning enough.”

Phasma was a statue under her armour.

“Even when FN-2187 left, I just thought it was an aberration. But it’s more than that. You can’t stop it, erase it or cut it out of them. They’re still humans, not machines. People can’t live like machines and that’s what the First Order is, a machine.”

For the first time ever, Kylo reached out to her feelings and found them in turmoil. As human as anyone else. He’d assumed she was just another machine under the armour. He realised something. As sensitive in the force as he was, he’d been shut off. Whether it was himself or Snoke who’d done this didn’t matter. He had no feeling for those around him. He’d been consumed with his own destiny, his own fear of failure, his own pain that he’d cut himself off from anyone who could help him. No wonder he’d been such an easy target for Snoke.

The exit doors to the audience chamber loomed in front of them. A call came through on Phamsa’s comlink and so she left but Kylo remained where he was. He let the memory of the vision, if that’s what he could call it, flow through his mind. He could have sworn it was more than a vision, like he was actually there on Naboo, talking with his father and grandfather. It must have been only a moment but it felt like he’d been there with them for an age.

The memory of Rey, fallen to the dark side, brought an involuntary moan to his throat. He couldn’t let that happen. He looked at the doors ahead. Once he stepped out of this room he was Kylo Ren again. He had to be if he was going to save Rey. He placed a hand over his heart and his grandfather’s light glowed inside. It was joined by a pulse that he recognised. The pulse grew, like a little sun inside him. Just like the first time she’d come to him with her light he bathed in it like it was the light of an everlasting dawn.

The light quieted and settled inside him. Kylo smiled. His grandfather had been true to his word and given the light back.

“Thank you.”

He let his hand fall to his side but the light remained. Perhaps if he gave it back to her she wouldn’t fall. He smiled. Perhaps. For now he needed to go to Katigal City. He had a feeling about it, like she was going to be there. He let himself follow the light as he concentrated. A way opened to him to save her. His mouth dropped open and his heart stopped. No. That couldn’t be the way. He clenched a fist. If Ben had been weak and foolish and Kylo Ren a hateful monster, then this new man was indeed a miserable wretch if this was the only way to save her.


	21. Chapter 21

Poe watched as Luke instructed Sanjo on the correct position to hold a lightsabre. The little ball from the Falcon’s lounge that Luke had dug out looked like a toy not a Jedi training device. As it floated back and forth looking for a place to strike Poe was glad it wasn’t shooting at him. BB-8 had taken fright and was now hiding behind Poe. Chewie ignored them, preferring to tinker with his bowcaster. Imri sat at a computer terminal and ‘tinkered’ as well. Poe found his gaze drawn back to her again. There was something vulnerable, tough and exotic about her all at once. There was an awkward moment when she busted him looking at her and she smiled. Poe felt a sheen of heat across his cheeks and he turned back to the pilots board.

Sanjo yelped as another shot from the training ball stung him in the thigh.

“Why do I have to wear the blindfold,” Sanjo complained. Luke stroked his beard to cover the grin pulling at the corner of his mouth. Poe had noticed an extra spark in the Jedi Master’s demeanour as he taught the young Dastronian how to use the force.

“You don’t need to see the force. You need to feel it. You’ve been taught about the force but you don’t know the force. Open your mind to it and let it guide you.”

Sanjo huffed and brought the lightsabre up again. The training ball swished back and forth.

“Wait,” Luke said. He stepped forward and reached towards the green stone ring on Sanjo’s hand.

“This is a minor force block. It’s interfering with your ability. Take it off,” he said. Sanjo’s mouth fell open. He looked down at it and shook his head.

“It’s my family’s token of birth. I can’t take it off.” Luke raised his eyebrows then nodded. He leaned back in that enigmatic way that Poe was beginning to recognise.

“I suppose your family must come first. The way of the Jedi isn’t for everyone,” he said. Sanjo frowned and lowered the lightsabre. The training ball waited in the air to be called again.

“I’m a descendent of the Imperial line of Dastron. I can’t ignore that. It’s my duty.”

“Of course,” Luke said. He smiled and patted Sanjo on the shoulder then turned to go and look out the viewing window of the command deck.

“Wait. I thought you were going to show me the force,” Sanjo said.

Luke turned. “The way of the Jedi is a life-time commitment Sanjo. It must come first, before family, before personal desires. It’s not for everyone,” he said. Sanjo looked down at the ring on his finger and then out at the planet below.

“I can’t just abandon my sister and my father. They need me.”

“So does the galaxy. If you become a Jedi, you will be serving them as much as by staying here.”

Sanjo looked down at the ring again and then at the lightsabre. He looked up at his first officer, Jaren Yaez, but the man didn’t meet his gaze. This was Sanjo’s decision.

“Sir.” Sanjo’s comm. officer spoke in a hushed voice behind Poe. “There’s an incoming transmission from First Order Command.” Poe stiffened but he remained silent so as not to interrupt the interaction between Luke and Sanjo and nodded. He caught Imri’s eye as she tried to sink into the background. She looked away. He got the impression there was some plan turning over in her mind. He wasn’t surprised. She’d helped them find Rey but her aim was to find her ship. There were no guarantees after that. Would she slip their company or stay with the Resistance.

“Get the Geldon’s Captain in here now,” he said. The First Order Officer was hustled in from the room where the bridge officers were being held. Poe kept his blaster trained on the officer. The man stood with complete composure, ignoring any threat to his life.

“What do you want,” he snapped.

“Answer the transmission,” Poe said. He leaned closer. “And remember, ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers or you get a new hole in your head.”

The captain looked down his nose at Poe and sniffed but his eyes still held fear. Poe gestured for the others to step back out of view as the captain reached to open the transmission.

General Hux appeared as a hologram. Poe’s lip curled. Hux had carried out the orders to wipe out the Hosnian system. Out of the corner of his eye Poe saw Imri’s eyes widen then narrow as her jawline hardened. Hux scowled at the Geldon’s captain.

“Captain Daindridge. You were slow in answering this transmission. Are you still experiencing power issues?”

“Yes,” the captain said but as instructed made no further effort to speak. Hux waited with a raised eyebrow then continued when the captain said nothing.

“Is your ship capable of making a landing on the surface? I need you to deliver droids and technicians to Katigal City,” Hux stated. Poe felt a little stab of anticipation. This is what they needed.

“Yes,” the captain said. He remained still and stared straight ahead. Hux scowled for a moment as he watched the captain then nodded.

“Very well Captain. You will be sent further instructions.”

Hux disappeared as the transmission ended.

“Hux was suspicious,” Luke said. The captain snorted, a malicious grin creasing the corner of his mouth.

“I like to give Hux my opinion if I can. I’m not a yes man,” he said, looking at Poe with amusement. Poe grimaced.

“Suspicion is one thing but outright knowledge that we’re here is different.”

Poe waved for the Captain to be taken back to his holding cell.

Poe looked at Luke. There was an unspoken agreement. Luke was going to do what he’d come to do and Poe was going to do what the Resistance would do.

“There’s a fleet of new starships down there. I’m going to stop as many of them as I can from getting to space,” Poe said. Luke nodded.

“I have a different task. One I must do alone.”

Sanjo turned to Luke, energy coursing through his body.

“Please let me come with you,” he said. A corner of Luke’s mouth curled up in the hint of a smile but his eyes grew serious.

“If you come with me it will be as a Jedi padawan, not the Prince of Dastron.”

Sanjo chewed his lip for a moment then he took a breath and straightened his shoulders. He pulled the ring from his finger and looked down at it in the palm of his hand for a moment. He turned to Yaez and handed him the ring.

“See that my sister gets this. I am handing my command back to my sister but until then you will follow the orders of Poe Dameron, Commander of the Resistance lead by General Leia Organa.” Poe lifted an eyebrow in surprise at the formal declaration. He was glad to see Sanjo take up the challenge to be a Jedi but to hand command of his troops to him was not what he’d expected.

Yaez took the ring and nodded.

“You will become a Jedi but even if you never return to Dastron, to us you will still be Zain Sanjo,” the officer said. Sanjo nodded and stepped towards Luke.

Yaez turned to Poe. The look in his eye was assessing. Poe knew he was trying to sum him up as a leader. He was doing the same with Yaez. The look in the Dastronian’s eye said he was willing to work with someone who had a similar goal as he did.

Luke stepped away and looked down at the planet again.

“I’ll need to take the Falcon if I’m going to find Rey and get her back.” Poe nodded. For now he was going to have to fly the Geldon down and the Falcon parked in its hangar wasn’t going to be of use.

Chewie made a soft yowl and Luke smiled and patted his arm. Poe was happy Luke wouldn’t be totally alone.

“The best time to go would be as soon as we’re inside the atmosphere. You’re departure will be less noticeable there,” Poe said.

“Sir, we’ve received a communication from the Finalizer to dock and pick up the droids,” the comm. officer said. Poe grimaced and nodded. This was going to be tricky. He turned to the members of the Dastron Resistance and grinned.  

 “Ever worn Stormtrooper armour,” he said. Yaez returned the grin and nodded.

“There is one problem,” Luke said, he pointed to Imri. She wasn’t going to fit well in Stormtrooper armour. Poe ran a hand through his hair. He couldn’t let the First Order find her. BB-8 might also be recognizable but they would be expecting droids so maybe they wouldn’t look too close.

“Would you prefer to stay here,” he said to her. They’d only wanted her to help them find where Rey had gone. He didn’t expect her to fight as well.

Imri looked at him with a dark expression.

“I know how to stay out of site,” Imri said. “And I’m sure there’ll be a computer somewhere that’ll need my attention.” Poe had to agree. Besides, he’d still like to keep an eye on Imri, whatever plan she had going on in her head he didn’t want to be caught out. He was also hoping she’d stay, telling himself it was because the Resistance needed people like her.

“Luke, you, Chewie and Sanjo will find Rey. The rest of us are going to blow up as many ships down there as we can.”

“What about my sister,” Sanjo said.

“We’ll find her too,” Luke said. Sanjo looked apprehensive but nodded.

Poe realised there was one thing he hadn’t addressed.

“Yaez, we need to get our hands on some explosives.” The officer grinned and nodded.

“We found several crates of multi-charges and concussion charges in the hold when we did a sweep of the ship earlier.”

There was general agreement to the plan. Poe found Stormtrooper armour to be less comfortable than he expected. How Finn had dealt with it he had no idea. Poe turned back to the flight controls and looked for the auto docking sequence. As much as he’d like to have a go at a manual docking with the cruiser, this was not time for messing about.

Once he had all but the Stormtrooper helmet on he strolled across to where Imri sat. She was flicking through ships schematics, tapping the computer here and there. For a moment he wondered if she was doing more than amusing herself with the computer but she turned from the screen when he stopped behind her. She looked up at him with a questioning gaze. Poe didn’t want her to think he was suspicious and checking on her and cast about in his mind for something to talk about.

“Have you thought about joining the Resistance,” he said. She leaned back and grinned, looking him up and down.

“Absolutely,” she said. Poe felt a flush across his face.

“Great…um…we could really use someone with your skills. You’d be paid and they’d give you a rank so you wouldn’t just be another…” Her grin widened as he spoke. He realised too late that he hadn’t finished his sentence.

“Um.” That wasn’t any better but he was taken by the way her face lit up and her blue skin grew darker along her cheekbones when he looked at her. Her eyes seemed darker and more soulful. Poe scowled in a bid to quash the way his heart flipped when her smile became a sideways smirk and her eyebrow lifted. Her smile disappeared. Poe felt awkward now, like he’d thrown a bucket of cold water on her for no reason.

“Maybe we’ll talk about it later,” he said. Imri looked down.

“Sure,” she muttered. Poe stood there feeling like an idiot for a moment then headed back to the pilot controls. He focussed his attention on Luke as he continued to practice with Sanjo. Without the ring Sanjo’s efforts to repel the bolts from the Jedi training ball with Luke’s lightsabre had improved.

Luke broke off from instructing Sanjo, a frown on his face. He turned to look out the front view windows. Poe followed his gaze. A dark bat-winged shuttle had just launched from the Finalizer ahead of them. Luke’s face grew sad as he watched it. Poe shivered. He knew who was on it. His thoughts turned dark as he watched it head for the planet. As much as he knew who Kylo Ren was to Luke, he couldn’t feel the same. Not after all he’d done. Poe pulled his gaze away from the ship falling towards the planet and busied himself coordinating the autopilot’s docking function. He turned to Yaez.

“Send some of your crew down in trooper armour to get the droids on board.” Yaez nodded and gestured for the ones he wanted, leaving only a few on the command deck, including the comm. officer and Sanjo’s body guards, who, to his amazement, had found some Stormtrooper armour to fit them.

The command deck was quiet after they left. Poe looked over at Luke. His eyes were closed and he stood motionless. When his eyes opened Poe, even without the force, knew something was up.

“Is it Rey,” he said. Luke shook his head.

“I’m not sure. Something has changed.”

Sanjo had stopped his practice and was watching him now too. Luke continued to stare out the viewing window. Poe had one question.

“Why doesn’t she remember?”

Luke’s shoulders sagged a little and his eyes grew sad. That spark that had emerged while training Sanjo grew dim as the old Jedi remembered the past. Poe felt bad for bringing it up.

“It’s her own mind. She doesn’t want to remember and with her strength in the force…I can’t force her to remember. No-one can.”

“But she doesn’t seem affected by it. Surely it doesn’t matter if she doesn’t remember.”

Luke shook his head.

“It makes her vulnerable. Snoke was able to deceive Ben and seduce him to the dark side because he was vulnerable. I didn’t realise this until it was too late. I can’t afford to be that naïve again. There is much in her past that she must face but cannot while she shuts her mind away.”

“But you’ve told her what happened,” Poe said.

“I’ve told her everything I know but she just stares and shakes her head and then it’s gone.” Luke sighed.

“Leia said her parents were killed in the civil war on her planet but that her sister was killed in the temple when it came down.”

Luke found a seat and looked at the looming facade of the Finalizer as it grew closer. There was a shudder as they docked. Poe felt the tension in the room grow. Loading the droids could be the one weak point in their plan. If they were discovered here they might never make it to the planet.

Poe figured Luke wasn’t going to continue so when he spoke again he nearly missed his first words.

“Rey brought the temple down.”

 Poe did a double take, his mouth dropping open.

“What.”

Luke ran a hand over his beard.

“It’s taken me a while to figure out what went wrong for Rey, with Snoke’s interference and all that happened afterwards with Ben.”

“Ben set up a test to prove that her brother Eli was strong enough in the force to pull the Kenobi lightsabre to himself. They didn’t expect Rey to be there. I already knew that Eli would never be a true Jedi. Rey was the only one who had the power.”

 “The problem was her father. He was against her becoming a Jedi. When he was alive he’d forbidden her to train. When they came to me Rey was conflicted about obeying her father and wanting to prove herself. When the lightsabre came to her instead of Eli he was furious and she reacted. The temple had a weak point and when she struck out with the force she hit the weak point and everything came down. Her sister was killed but she managed to push Rey out of the temple before she died. Rey was lost in the confusion afterwards. After that I never saw her again until she was there with the lightsabre on Ahch-to.”

Poe tried to fit this with what He’d heard about the massacre that followed. Luke knew his thoughts.

“Snoke was behind it all. He was the one who set up and manipulated Ben and Eli and the others. He was the one who manipulated suspicion against Ben when Rey disappeared. Snoke was the one who ordered them to come back and destroy everything and Snoke was the one who accused me. Something went wrong with their plans to take Rey though. I tried to find her afterwards as well but it was obvious I was fighting the force trying to find her. It meant for her to be lost.”

Poe felt a chill in his spine. He turned back to the flight controls. It had been a simple matter to coordinate the docking with the Finalizer but a more skilled touch was required for atmospheric entry.

“Snoke wants her more than he wanted Ben. He’s patient but this battle is not just about patience,” Luke said. There was a hard set to Luke’s jaw that hadn’t been there before. “This galaxy has suffered long enough for my mistakes.” He looked at Sanjo. “A wise old Jedi once told me the dark side was easier but it was not stronger. I know this to be true.” Sanjo’s eyes widened as he watched his new master.

A communique from the docking bay came through. It was Yaez.

“We’ve got trouble.” Poe’s thoughts went straight to Imri. He looked around, he couldn’t see her anywhere.

“What is it,” Poe replied.

“You’re Twi’lek’s been recognised. They’re taking her on board the Finalizer now.”

Poe cursed under his breath. What was she doing down there? He didn’t come on this crazy undertaking just to have Imri sent back to the prison they’d broken her out of. He grabbed his Stormtrooper helmet and headed for the down lift. Luke, Chewie and Sanjo followed. Before he left he handed the command deck over to the comm. officer.

“Lock it down if you have to,” he said.

The moment they emerged Poe heard a strident voice bellowing across the docking bay. Hux.

“I want every panel on this ship checked. I know she’s not alone.”

The resistance Stormtroopers made a slow show of compliance. A line of droids sat along the back wall with a red haired technician. Hux stood in the docking bay as well as several real Stormtroopers and a giant chrome trooper.  

Luke pushed Sanjo out of sight. Chewie couldn’t be hidden. Without hesitation the wookie brought up his bowcaster and sent a bolt into captain Phasma. The bolt ricocheted off. She still went down but was quick to get up and return fire.

Hux balked and headed for cover. Phasma and her Stormtroopers began shooting but Yaez and his men returned fire.

Hux made a bolt for the docking bay door back to the Finalizer. It closed in front of him. He turned to look for the controls only to leave the ground as he was pinned to the wall. Phasma and her troopers were swept from their feet and ended in a heap not far from Hux.

Luke strode out into the docking bay.

“Stand down,” he barked. Poe felt a kick to his words that must have been the force. Everyone stopped.

Luke strode up to Hux where he dangled against the wall. The frightened general slid back down to the floor as Luke approached. Phasma and her troops scrambled to their feet but stayed where they were.

“Tell me where you took the Twi’lek.”

Hux just stared, mouth open. Phasma moved but was not fast enough to avoid the green shaft that came up, its deadly tip pulsating against her chest. Poe wasn’t sure but there seemed to be a dent already in the same spot. She hesitated and then stepped back.

“The Twi’lek.”

Hux’ face grew hard, his eyes narrowing.

“She’s already been taken on board,” he sneered. “You can’t fight the whole First Order.”

“I don’t need to,” Luke said. “I have you.” Hux’ eyes went wide and he took a shaky breath. Luke turned to Phasma.

“Give an order to bring back the Twi’lek.” Luke dropped his lightsabre from Phasma’s chest but whipped it across to hum just below Hux’ nose.

Phasma was in no hurry to comply. He watched her for a moment as she touched a button on her wrist and ordered that they bring Imri back to the Geldon. Poe suspected the chrome Stormtrooper was more worried about the appearance of caving into duress, given what Finn had told him about Starkiller, than she was about Hux. Poe enjoyed watching the sweat trickle down Hux’ forehead as he stared at the lightsabre.

Poe was close enough to hear the reply transmission when it came through.

“Sir…we no longer have the Twi’lek.” Phasma’s head jerked towards the docking bay door.

“What.”

“Sir, the Twi’lek has…We’re currently working to locate her position.”

Poe felt his heart drop to his stomach. He should have expected this. She was going for her ship and when she got to it she was going to leave. He knew he shouldn’t be disappointed but he was.

Phasma spoke into her comm. link again.

“I want you to set guards around my new ship. She’s going to try and steal it. I don’t want that ship to leave the hangar bay floor.”

Luke turned to Poe. “We need to go.”

Poe chewed his lip. “I don’t want to leave her behind.”

Another communication came through Phasma’s comm. link.

“Sir…you’re ship has just left.”

“What.”

Poe had to laugh. She worked fast.

“Sir we’re experiencing some strange power failures...” The transmission dropped out.

Poe went to the comm. station nearby and ordered the comm. officer to engage the sequence for undocking the ship.

“What are you doing,” Hux shrieked. The Geldon shook as the docking clamps were disengaged.

“We’re heading for Dastron,” Luke mused. Hux’ mouth opened and closed as impotent rage turned his face red. Phasma just stood there. Poe really couldn’t tell but if he could see her face he thought she would be holding back some kind of maniacal laugh.

“Put them in with the others,” Poe said. Before he left though he turned to Phasma with a smile.

“By the way Phasma, I always wanted to thank you for letting down the shields at Starkiller base. Finn told me you were very helpful.”

Phasma’s head came up. Hux’ head snapped around to stare at her with an open mouth.

There was a shriek behind the mask and she lunged for Poe. Several of the Resistance group blocked her way.

“I’ll kill you,” she snarled.

“Is this true,” Hux demanded. Phasma turned on Hux and stalked towards him.

“You left your post you snivelling weasel.”

“I was busy carrying out Snok’e orders to find Kylo Ren and get him off that exploding rock. Seems it would have been better you’d stayed on it.”

Luke stepped back as Phasma closed in on Hux. The red haired officer raised his chin as his face grew red with fury. 

“I’ll have you executed the moment I get back on board the Finalizer,” Hux spat. Phasma pulled her helmet off, her short blonde hair sticking up in wild tufts above a face set in a vicious smile.

“And I’ll rip you apart right here.” Hux stepped back but found he was back against the wall again.

“If you even touch…” His voice was cut off when Phasma picked him up and body slammed him against the wall.

“I have served the First Order all my life but I knew the moment I made one false move I’d be cast out. I was right. Loyalty is always demanded but never given. Especially by men like you.”

Hux tried to grasp her hands and pull them away but the Captain was strong and his face grew pale with fright.

“I suggest we find these two different quarters to cool their heels in,” Poe said to Yaez. He agreed.

“If you think you can take care of this, I’ll head back to the pilots seat.”

“We’ll be fine,” Yaez said.

Poe cast one last glance at the two First Order officers as they tried to kill each other with their venomous stares. When he got back to the command deck the comm. officer looked grateful he was there to take over. Poe looked out the front window. The Geldon’s autopilot was turning the ship away from the Finalizer giving him a view of space. He searched the diamond spangled darkness and found her. A tiny ship in the distance…just as it went into hyperspace.

He stared at the spot from where she’d disappeared telling himself she was always going to leave anyway.

“Sir, there’s a message.”

Poe sighed. “I guess we better get Daindridge in here again to speak to their command.”

“Sir, it’s been tagged for you. It has a voice recognition lock on it.”

Poe felt a little surge of hope but squashed it. It wouldn’t be her. Would it? He stepped over to the comm. panel and pressed the little flashing light. He spoke his name when requested and waited.

Imri’s face appeared on the screen. Poe told himself he barely knew her and had no right to any expectations but it still disappointed him that she’d gone.

“Poe. I know you hate me right now.” He didn’t but he was angry with her. “You’re going to hate me even more when I tell you what I’ve done.” She looked down for a moment then took a breath.

“I have set the Geldon on a collision course for the shipyard and factory. There is nothing else with enough explosive power to destroy their new fleet. It will take out most of the factory, as well as the power regulator. This will set off a chain reaction that will blow up their power source and take out the majority of their fleet on the ground. It’s the only way to do this.”

Poe felt the blood drain from his face. Was she saying she’d sent the ship they were on into a death dive towards the planet? The comm. officer next to him gasped and started tapping at keys.

“You can use the Falcon to get off the Geldon as well as escape pods. There is also a sequence that will allow you to break away the command deck from the main ship. It will only carry about ten or so people and has only a backup level of fuel and power once separated from the rest of the ship. I suggest you find a way to warn those on the ground to evacuate.”

Imri chewed her lip and the scar on her face stood out in relief as she grimaced.

“Again I’m sorry to leave this way but I won’t let Hux take me back to prison. If you have any sympathetic feelings for me,” her eyes narrowed and her mouth turned down… “make sure Hux goes down with the ship.”

Her face softened. “I hope we meet again someday Poe. I like you.”

The screen went black. Poe stared at it, his mouth open. “Really,” Poe breathed. “You got a funny way of showing it.” In spite of himself he hoped they did meet again one day but only when he was done being mad with her. Poe laughed. He realised he wasn’t mad with her for pushing the ship to the edge of a cliff and letting go the handbrake. He was mad with her for leaving. He’d hoped she was going to stay. He’d wanted her to stay.

He smacked the intercom and yelled.

“Luke we’ve got a problem.”


	22. Chapter 22

Katigal City was a confusing array of lights, towering buildings and busy streets. The dark sky above the brightly lit streets was strange to Rey. She was used to seeing the stars, both on Jakku and on Pal Charin but here there was too much light from the city to see the stars shine when she looked up.

Rey parked the speeder around the side of Demos Labs away from the brightest of the street lights. Solia had directed her on a circuitous route through backroads and side-streets to avoid Stormtroopers, local soldiers and even ordinary people on the streets. The labs were in a semi-industrial part of the city.

Rey was tired, her hands and clothes smeared with drive fluid after she had to spend precious time fixing the speeder and her hair was escaping her buns.

What she needed was a washroom and something to eat. Maybe she could look for these while Solia made the antidote for Finn.

“Quick. Around the back. If we’re seen there’ll be trouble,” Solia said.

Rey felt a weight on her shoulders. She was starting to get a headache as though she were back on Jakku and had gotten too much sun, in spite of the compounds Solia had produced from her bag.

“Rey. What’s wrong?” Rey shook her head as little spots flicked in and out of her vision.

“I don’t know. I have a headache.” Solia looked into her eyes.

“Come on,” Solia muttered and pulled Rey behind her. Rey put a hand to her head as she tried to keep up. Her forehead was cool. If she had sunstroke she’d feel hot and dry but her skin didn’t feel like that at all.

A shiver ran through her, like there were icy fingers pressing into her back and neck. Her mind whorled with scenes from the vision from when she was in Maz’ castle but then they were gone. She felt dizzy and rubbed her forehead with her fingers.

A roar echoed through her mind, human and full of wrath. She knew the voice but then it was gone and so were her headache and the icy fingers. Rey stopped. The spots disappeared from her vision and her thoughts cleared.

The hair on the back of Rey’s neck prickled. When Kylo had barged his way into her mind there had been a slight pain at first but then it had been a creeping feeling like fingers in her mind sorting through her memories. The feeling had been strange, not so much hurtful as he searched but frightening as she felt someone else inside her mind looking at her from the inside.

This feeling had been like fingers in her brain again but they had clamped about her mind like it was a thing to possess. She reminded herself of Luke’s training for shielding her mind and began to go through the exercises he’d given her.

_Don’t keep me out. I can help you._

Kylo was back. She thought of a snappy reply but decided against it. What should she do? They were still enemies but…She reached towards him, wondering if the light she’d given him was still here, if Ben was still there.

Something cold stung her mind as she reached out and she pulled back as pain flared in her head. Rey’s heart rate jumped and she shivered. She took a breath and went through Luke’s shielding exercises again.

_Rey, remember the ocean and the island. That’s how you resisted him before._

It was her Grandfather’s voice but he sounded far off.

Grandfather, what’s happening? Who am I resisting? There was no reply. Was he leaving? He said he would have to leave. Rey felt a stab of panic. He couldn’t leave.

_Rey._

Kylo’s voice. It sounded like he was also far away and his voice was being carried away by the wind. Her mind began to whorl. Was he leaving too?

“Rey. What’s the matter?” Solia’s voice cut through everything. Rey stared at her. That creeping headache banging in her mind. She forced herself to imagine the ocean and the island and her mind began to clear.

“It’s just this headache,” she muttered. Solia nodded but then looked about, her eyes darting and her hands pulling her robe closer about her.

“We can’t be caught on the streets.”

Rey kept the old memory of the ocean and the island in the back of her mind and breathed in. “Let’s go,” she said. Solia nodded but she watched her with concern for a moment before she turned away.

Solia led her down the darkened streets to a rear entrance of one of the ugliest buildings Rey had ever seen, a grey monstrosity of squat blocks and unsympathetic angles. A heavy steel door was recessed into a duracrete wall. To the side there was a keypad. Solia punched in a code and pushed at the door.

It refused to budge.

“They must have changed the code,” Solia said.

A small group of people came down the street.

Solia muttered something Rey didn’t quite catch as she tried another code. Rey didn’t like this. They didn’t need another incident like the one at the house of Solia’s _friend_. Rey stepped forward and put her hand over the key pad and concentrated. She could feel the buttons with the faint tell of the fingers that had touched them. She concentrated a little more on the mechanism and the order of those buttons and the lock.

The group came closer but didn’t seem interested in them until they were almost going past. Solia turned away from them.

“Zaina Solia,” a voice murmured. Rey felt Solia’s alarm and concentrated harder on the keypad. She almost had it.

“Zaina Solia. It must be.” The little group came closer, eyes wide with wonder and desperation. Solia turned to them.

“Please. Go in peace,” she said. If her words were meant to produce calm or encourage the people to move on they had the opposite effect. One member of the group fell to his knees.

“Zaina Solia.”

Rey felt the combination come together in her mind and punched it in. The lock opened and the door swung in. They rushed inside. The kneeling man tried to follow but Rey shut the door.

“What was that about?” Rey said.

“Nothing,” Solia muttered and took off along the dimly lit service corridor they had come into.

Rey felt the pain in her head pulse and she forgot about the kneeling man and focussed again on the image of the ocean and the island.

They were soon running through different corridors and up narrow stairways. Some corridors lead off into rooms that had animals in cages or that looked like engine rooms and others that were surrounded by glass, were brightly lit and full of strange equipment. Solia stopped outside a door and looked into a device on the wall. A red sliver of light ran across her face and the door opened.

Inside it looked like a storage room with rows of boxes and equipment. Solia began to search various boxes and draws, stuffing things into her healer’s bag.

“Is there somewhere I can find some water and clean up,” Rey said. Solia looked up.

“Of course,” she said. She grabbed one more thing from a shelf and headed out of the storeroom. She pointed down the corridor.

“Go to the end and turn left then right and you’ll find washrooms.” Solia turned to the room across the corridor and again had her face scanned.

When the door opened it was clear the room was occupied. A man sat on a stool, his back to them. Solia stopped, her mouth open. The man turned and looked up from where he’d been peering into a microscope. He froze when he saw them, his gaze focussed on Solia. His face softened as he looked at her, surprise and joy pulling at the corners of his mouth.

“Father,” Solia cried. She ran forward and the man, an older greyer version of Solia, folded her into his arms. Rey felt a little ache in her heart. How often had she longed for someone such as this to be her father and hold her like a father should? Her head ached as a wave of jealousy kept her rooted to the spot.

“Where did you come from my child,” the man said, his voice soft but gruff.

“The Jedi, she rescued me,” Solia said and turned back to Rey. Rey pushed the jealousy aside and smiled. The man stood and peered at her.

“This is the woman you saw in your dream,” he said.

“Yes father. Her name is Rey,” Solia said. Solia’s father stood straight and bowed his head.

“Welcome.” He lifted his head again. “I am Mikalas Demos and I am very glad you are here,” he said.

“Thank you,” Rey said, feeling a little awkward at his formality. Solia smiled, her eyes shining with approval but then she remembered her task.  

“Father, I need you to make compound 7432 for her. She has a friend who is an ex-Stormtrooper.” Mikalas mouth opened in surprise.

“Oh. I see. Of course.” Mikalas looked about him as though he wasn’t sure where to start. Solia pulled up her bag and plonked it on the desk.

“I’ve got it all in here,” she said. Mikalas face lit up.

“Ah, I wish you had been here with me this past year. When I heard that you were no longer with the heretics I feared the worst,” he said. Solia stopped, looking up at him in surprise. Her eyes looked haunted and her smile disappeared.

“The heretics are dead. Uncle Zhark and the Guavians killed them when they came to take us away. I made sure Sanjo got away father. He’s with Yaez.”

Mikalas face grew pale as she spoke and he swallowed. He shook his head and sighed.

“It’s all going so wrong. How could I have let this happen? Now the First Order is here and there is death on the streets.”

“I know father but we don’t have time now for this. We must get Rey away from here. The deathwalker, Kylo Ren, is here and he’s looking for her.”

Mikalas eyes grew wider and his face paled more. He nodded and focussed on the supplies Solia had brought. Rey backed out of the room.

“I’ll just go and tidy up,” she muttered. Solia smiled and nodded. Rey turned and strode down the hallway looking for the washroom. When she found it and burst in her knees and shoulders sagged. She turned the water on and splashed her face. Her head was hurting even more and she felt so tired. She tried to focus on the ocean and the island but the memory of Solia running into her father’s arm’s returned and that dark stab of jealousy filled her like a stain.

Rey knew this was not like her. The feeling was foreign. Someone was trying to get into her head.

Grandfather help me.

There was no reply.

Kylo.

A dark wave of hate rolled over her, causing her to gasp and choke. She squeezed her eyes shut. It wasn’t Kylo. It just didn’t feel like him.

She took a breath and focussed on the ocean and the island. There was one last source of help she could look to but it was harder for her to find him. He always seemed to find her but without something like the bond she had with Kylo she had no direction. She reached for Luke.

She was no longer in the washroom. She stood in the snow, the cold darkness of a forest about her and the stars above her. Starkiller base, although it felt like a time earlier than when she had stood on it and fought Kylo. A shout echoed and she ran to the top of a rocky outcrop to see where it came from. Among the trees she saw two Jedi engaged in battle. The first one with a green sabre was the size of a man and the other, like a man but who towered above the first Jedi and who held a red sabre.

The Jedi with the green sabre was greater in power and the dark Jedi fell, a wound like a chasm on his head and another where the green sabre had slashed through his side.

The vision was gone. She was back in the washroom. Rey stared at the mirror on the wall, not seeing herself but the twisting leap and flashing sabre that had taken down the dark Jedi. A whisper, like the sigh of an old man, slid into her mind.

_He can be defeated._

She gasped and looked about. Her heart jumped in crazy beats inside her chest. She drew in a shaky breath. Was it Luke? The green lightsabre suggested it was. Had he defeated Snoke? It didn’t fit with…anything. Maybe it was the future. Had she even seen it?

She saw herself in the mirror again and shook her head. She pulled her buns apart and ran her fingers through her hair, smoothing it out and retwisting her buns into place. She drank straight from the tap and left the washroom, striding back down the hall to the lab where Solia was making the compound for Finn.

“There you are.” Solia had a panicked look on her face.

“What’s wrong?”

“We just received a message from Yaez, the Resistance. They’re going to take out the shipyards with a scuttled cruiser. They’ve sent a warning to evacuate but my uncle won’t let them leave. He’s locked them in.”

Rey scowled.

“What. Why?”

“I don’t know but we have to help them. I can get them to open the gates.”

“Solia,” her father said, his voice a rebuke. “You must not use your power this way.”

Solia turned to her father.

“If not this then what? The people here in the city believe I’m Zaina Solia. Why can’t I command them to open the gates and let the people out?”

“If you were to reveal yourself and use the powers of the Zaina the people would take you and put you on the throne and demand you lead them to victory over the First Order. That will only get you killed or, worse, Snoke would turn you into his pawn, just as the Empress Edise was Palpatine’s pawn. You know this.”

Solia’s shoulders slumped and she let out a frustrated sob.

“I hate being me.” Her father placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“I know. The heretics have helped you on your path to being the leader you will be one day but now is not the time.”

Rey watched father and daughter with mixed feelings and the dark stain of jealousy began to creep in again. She thought of Luke. He was the closest thing she had to a father. She reminded herself that he had come to find her. He was here somewhere. He’d reached out to her. She pictured him in her mind and tried again to reach out to him.

That cold, stinging barrier was there again. She breathed and pictured the ocean and the island. It was becoming a visual mantra. She let its peace flow and thought what her next steps should be.

“I will go,” she said.

“You can’t go alone,” Solia said.

“If you come with me there will only be trouble and I don’t have time to keep you safe while I open the gates.”

“She’s right,” Mikalas said. Solia huffed and scowled but she looked down and sighed in resignation.

“Take the speeder you came in,” Mikalas said. “Head for the tower in the east. It’s lit up in red lights. There’s a road that leads straight to it. The shipyards are right behind it. It will only take you a few minutes.” Mikalas pulled a tiny object from his pocket, a greenstone ring.

“Find the locking panel and push the stone against the socket where it fits. That’s all you’ll need to do.”

“That ring is just like the bracelet I wear,” Solia said. “It will hide you in the force if you need it but it will also block it from you so you can’t use it.”

Rey nodded. “I’ll come back here when I let the people out. I know my master, Luke Skywalker, will find us. He’ll help us escape.”

“Luke Skywalker is here,” Mikalas said, his eyes wide with wonder as his mouth dropped open.

“Yes, father.” Solia said but she turned to Rey. “Be careful Rey. Kylo Ren is still looking for you.”

Rey nodded. Her heart skipped a beat at the thought of him. Was he still her enemy? Did she want him to be? There was something between them that drew her. Was it the bond that her grandfather had told her about? Even Solia could see there was something there.

Rey made her way out to the speeder behind the building and jumped in. She moved off trying not to attract attention. When she emerged on the main thoroughfare she could see straight away the tower and the red lights and turned towards it. A Stormtrooper made to stop her but she pushed at his mind, suggesting he had other things to do. He waved her on.

An image of Kylo, masked and waiting for her flashed in her mind. She thought about reaching out to him through the bond but was reluctant to do so after the last two times she’d tried and had been blocked. If he was waiting for her then so be it. It was time they faced each other.

She parked the speeder near the gates to the shipyards. They were high and solid so she could see no-one but she could hear voices behind it crying out, muffled by the thickness of the duracrete. Two guards stood outside the gates. There was a recess in which a security panel sat that Rey decided must be what she was looking for. She slid out of the speeder and looked at the guards.

“Excuse me.” The guards came to attention. She strolled towards them. “Why are the gates closed?”

“We have orders,” was the quick reply. Rey didn’t want to use the force if she didn’t have to. It was the best way to alert Kylo as to where she was.

“You do know the Resistance is going to blow up the ship yards. The gates won’t save you if that’s what you’re thinking.”

The guards went still. They looked at each other. One turned back to her, a sneer on his face and raised his weapon.

“If you’re with the Resistance then we better take you in sweetheart.” He leered at her with a twisted grin. Rey felt a stab of irritation. It might just be easier to get out her lightsabre and kill them.

Rey stopped, shocked by her thoughts. This was not her. She set her mind on the ocean and the island again and continued. This time she reached out with the force.

“You should save yourselves. Why be blown up with the rest of them. Go home. No one will ever know.”

The leering guard’s grin fell and he looked sullen.

The other guard started to nod. “Yes, I think I will.”

The leering guard looked up, incredulous.

“Hey, where’re you going,” he growled.

Rey pushed at the surly guard again with the force.

“He’s going home and so are you.” The surly guard looked confused for a moment then nodded and followed the other guard. When they were far enough away she strode forward, pulling the ring from her satchel. It was just as Mikalas had said. The ring fitted into a little socket. There was a beep and a button flashed green. She pushed it and there was a rumble. The doors cracked. A cheer went up from the inside that grew louder as the doors drew apart.

Rey stepped back into the shadows as people began to run out through the doors. The speeder was on the other side of the gate where the people were escaping. There were too many to make her way back to it. She would make her way through when it was clearer and leave.

A prickle on the back of her neck warned her. Another whisper in her mind, one she recognised.

_Rey, trust me. Please._

It sounded as though the words came from a long distance away but it was Kylo’s voice and she knew he was getting closer. She could feel him behind her. People were still coming through, blocking her retreat to the speeder. If she turned she would have to face him. She didn’t know what to do with this strange state of their relationship, if that’s what she could call it. Not quite enemies but not friends either. Part of her wanted to be with part of him, the part that was still Ben, yet she could not like the part that was a murderer, twisted by the dark side.

With a shock she realised he wasn’t alone. She spun around. He stood in the shadows but she could see his outline. Red lights from the tower glinted on his mask, as though it were stained with blood. Whoever was with him was too deep in the shadows for her to see.

“Are you afraid of me that you bring others with you,” she said. He stepped forward, the lights of the tower and the street lights picking up more of his robes, his hood and his mask. It didn’t matter that she couldn’t see him under all of that. She could feel almost everything about him when he was this close. He was calm, detached but Rey knew something boiled beneath the surface.

“You must come with us Rey. There is no other choice. You’re here alone. We will take you with us or we will kill you,” he said. His voice was the dead metallic growl that his mask contorted it into. Rey focussed her mind on the ocean and the island, letting her mind calm and focus.

“You know I won’t come with you,” she said. He took a step towards her and she retreated. The people were getting less now. She could make it to her speeder.

Another prickle ran down her back. She spun around and saw a dark figure robed and masked in black now stood on the other side of the road, closer to her speeder than she was. The third figure emerged from the shadows where Kylo had been. Clad in black robes and a mask like a skull, Rey could feel the loathing coming from…her.

“It’s no use fighting Rey. Three of us and one of you. Don’t be foolish.” 

“Nothing has changed between us Kylo. I wont go with you to Snoke and you won’t let me go,” she said. She looked about. The road back to Demos Labs was still full of people. She could try and get lost among them but then she didn’t want Kylo or his two knights to hurt any of them. If she went back into the shipyards she might have a chance of losing them but it wouldn’t matter if she got blown up by the Resistance instead.

It was a calculated risk but she knew it was her only option.

She ignited her lightsabre and charged straight for Kylo. In a flash he ignited his sabre and so did the woman beside him, a single blade of red. The man across the road was too far away for now.

“Stop,” Kylo yelled. Rey ignored him. The woman beside him leapt towards Rey but Rey dodged and spun, passing her back to back. She kinked her sabre in behind her and slashed it across her side as she passed. The woman fell to the ground, a scream of pain from beneath the mask.

Kylo’s sabre was up and swinging towards her but it was high and Rey ducked and dove under it, retracting her sabre and rolling across the ground past his feet. She used her momentum to propel herself forward towards the tower. She scooted up a massive steel tower leg and grabbed hold of the lowest support beam, pulling herself up to stand on it. From here she could see all of them. The woman was down, holding her side, but the man had joined Kylo. They now stood beneath her.

Rey wasn’t sure if she’d made the best decision. She was now caught on the tower. At least she had a vantage point, if only for a short time before she had to go.

“You’ve got no-where to go Rey,” Kylo called out. Rey heard a noise and looked up. Was there a flare of a ships exhaust in the atmosphere? She looked down at Kylo.

“We’re all going to die soon,” she said. Kylo turned and looked about. Rey knew he could hear it too. Another sound caught their attention, a shriek in the sky like unshielded metal against the atmosphere. Rey knew what it was. She looked down at the two men below her. She took advantage of their distraction and dropped, igniting her sabre as she fell and slicing through the sabre arm of the other knight. He screamed and fell to his knees. Rey fell on top of him, slamming him into the ground, and lost her footing. She stumbled and fell to the ground on her back.

In an instant Kylo’s sabre hovered at her neck. He stared down at her.

_You still fight like a scavenger._


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi All. I know I'm worse than hopeless with notes and stuff but just wanted to say thanks for getting this fic to over 3000 hits. Never thought it would get this far. I hope you like this next installment. Love to you all.

Poe's fingers flicked across the switches until he found the right one. The separation sequence was easy enough but it was going to take more than a few moments to execute.

Hux stood to one side, ramrod straight, glowering at the view of the planet below and refusing to provide any assistance. Phamsa stood at a more sullen angle on the opposite side, disarmed by the Resistance and Sanjo’s ex-bodyguards. There was also a red-haired technician that resembled Hux but doing her best to ignore the general while she looked for ways to slow the cruiser’s descent. Apart from Finn, she was the most helpful member of the First Order he’d ever met.

“I’m sorry but that Twilek has done her work too well. This thing is going down,” she muttered as she crawled back out from behind a bulkhead. Hux pressed his lips together and scowled before he stepped closer to her.

“Kari, surely you can do something…” The woman shot to her feet, glaring at Hux like she hoped he would explode into flames.

“You’re Twilek has finally outsmarted you…Armitage,” she snapped. Hux blanched and stepped back. He looked at Poe then at Phasma. She ignored him.

Poe chuckled. “Thanks. We’ll just have to fly her in the best we can then.” Poe’s words raised the already tense atmosphere about him. At least he wasn’t taking everyone with him.

Luke had gone in the Falcon with Chewie, Sanjo and BB-8. There was no way he was going to allow BB-8 to come with him and maybe go down with the ship. As far as he knew a few droids and resistance fighters had also managed to catch a ride on the Falcon. They’d managed to get most of the Geldon’s crew and Stormtroopers in the escape pods. With five First Orders, ten Resistance, including himself, and two last droids they were overloaded on the command deck as they entered the atmosphere.

“Sir we’ve got company,” the comm officer said. “Tie fighters.”

Poe brought up his defences.

“Tell them not to shoot,” Hux snapped out.

Poe turned to him.

“You tell them not to shoot.”

The ship rocked causing all on board to stumble and reach for something stable. Hux scrambled to the comm. board. He tapped in a code and waited. He tapped it in again.

“No.” He looked up, his eyes wide with fear. “They’ve implemented the duress barr on my command functions.”

Poe let out a breath. “Fine. Yaez, can you man the weapons array.” Another shot rocked the ship, taking out aft shields and causing everyone to lurch forward. Hux cried out. Phasma started to laugh.

“You might get the pleasure of seeing my execution first hand yet Hux.” There was a predatory snarl to her final words and Hux scrambled back to his first position as far away from her as he could get, the lump in his neck bobbing up and down as he kept his gaze trained anywhere but her.

The ship was rocked again, taking out all shields. A droid fell over and Kari’s tools scattered across the floor. One young Resistance fighter jumped to help her gather them back up earning a very sweet smile from Kari that caused his cheeks to blush. Yaez powered up weapons and began a barrage of return fire but the Tie’s were fast, igniting the rear of the ship.

The ship shook again but not from weapons fire. This was a deep groaning shudder as the separation sequence began and the command deck extended away from the main bulk of the ship. With that they would lose all but a few small laser guns. Not enough to put up a fight against the Tie’s.

A shot ripped through the top of the ship. The opening was small but it still sent an icy blast through the command deck, whipping up a storm of loose items. There was pandemonium as bodies stumbled about until they found a foot or hand hold. Something hit Poe in the face, obscuring his vision. He ripped it from his face as the ship began to list. He pulled it back before it got too far. The red-haired technician found her feet and began ripping the backing off a console.

“Help me,” she yelled. Phamsa’s hulk strode almost untouched through the tempest and pulled the panel off with little effort.

“Get me the laser weld from the storage in the rear,” Kari yelled. It was found and she was soon being lifted up by Sanjo’s body guards to weld the panel over the tear. Whoever she was, Poe was glad she was there as the whirlwind on the command deck settled.

Just as she finished they were knocked off their feet again from another blast from a Tie. The ship groaned and bucked as the final separation sequence saw the main bulk of the ship drop away. Poe powered up the separated command deck and lifted the nose, sending them skywards.

There was another shriek as a laser burst skimmed the bottom of what was left of the ship.

“With those Tie fighters we can’t afford to lose our main guns,” Yaez yelled.

A Tie exploded in front of them.

“Where did that come from,” Poe yelled.

“Sir,” the Comm officer flicked a switch and the main screen flicked on. Poe felt his heart flip as he looked at the quirky blue face and incorrigible smile he thought he’d never see again.

“You guys looked like you needed a hand,” Imri said.

“You came back,” was all he could say, his voice a little wobbly as emotion welled up inside him.

“Yeah. I forgot something but we’ll talk about that later.”

 

 

Rey lay still, her breath caught in her throat and her heart racing as she looked up at Kylo. His face was hidden by the mask and cowl and his lightsabre sizzled in the air above her. He looked like a dark bird of prey poised to swoop yet she knew that beneath the nightmare exterior someone far more complex was hidden. She could feel the light glowing inside him yet it was still at war with his pride and his fear.

He made no move to either kill her or release her. His hand was steady on the lightsabre. This close Rey could feel the emotions inside him, even without reaching across the bond. They were calmer than she would’ve expected. He was purposeful, determined and something else, something softer. A smile pulled at the corner of her mouth as a little spark of hope glowed inside her. She didn’t know if it was what she did or something else but something about him had changed. She felt a pull towards him, wanting to know more about this changing Kylo.

A shriek shattered the air, breaking the moment between them. Rey’s head spun towards the sound as did Kylo’s.

“Kill her.” The injured woman had crawled back up to a half crouch, her lightsabre no longer extended as she held the burning slash in her side.

“For my brother’s sake, kill her.” Rey looked back up at Kylo. She felt a jarring of his emotions, mainly fear but there was guilt too. That confused her. He had wanted to keep her alive before. Would her calculated risk pay off? She had trusted him not to kill her but would this woman undo her hopes?  

She looked at the man whose arm she’d severed. Was this the woman’s brother. They’d both been prepared to kill her.

The woman hissed.

“You can’t, can you. Does family mean nothing to you now? What about my family? They’re dead because of her.”

Rey looked at her open mouthed. What was she saying? Kylo turned to the woman.

“Family you say. Here lies the last of your family and you want her dead.” Rey was jolted as though she had received an electric shock. Had she heard him right? What was he saying? It didn’t make sense.

The woman heaved herself to a half kneeling position. 

“She’s not my family. She’s the daughter of my father’s whore.”

Rey’s heart stopped. She couldn’t breathe. A wave of dark spots clouded her vision. What was this woman saying? A cold sense of deja vu engulfed her. Did she know this woman? Dressed in the same fashion as Kylo she had thought she was just another one of his Knights of Ren. Rey reached towards her in the force.

The woman’s reaction was vicious. Searing cold struck at her. Rey pushed it back and the woman gasped.

“Get away from me,” she snarled. In a surge of energy she leapt towards Rey, igniting her lightsabre. Kylo stretched out his hand and the woman recoiled, dropping her sabre as she held her side and whimpered.

Rey tried to get up but a pain in her head laid her back out. It was those fingers again trying to grasp her mind. It was not the woman. She tried to focus on the ocean and the island but the image was murky and losing its power. Still, those icy fingers faded. Rey grimaced as she stood on unsteady feet, determined to know what the woman was saying. Whoever she was she only watched Rey, defeated, from behind her mask. Rey took a shaky breath.

“Who are you?”

The woman didn’t reply instead she reached up and ripped away the mask covering her face. Rey’s mouth dropped open and the world turned upside down. A face that she only had a faint memory of, a memory that seemed clearer now she was looking at the dark hair and pale face in front of her. She had scars Rey didn’t remember but her eyes were the same as her own.

“Gem?”

A glimmer of hope pierced a dark place in the back of her mind. Maybe she wasn’t alone after all. Except that Gem’s baleful expression and the bitterness in her eyes and downturned mouth gave Rey little hope of that changing. She knew through the force that this was her older sister but her face was different to what Rey remembered. Her skin was pale and drawn, her eyes cold with dark smudges below them. Her cheeks no longer round and soft but roughened and grey and carrying a scar on her chin and above her eye. This should have been a joyful moment but there was no joy in the eyes turned on her. Her sister’s eyes burned with hatred and her mouth was turned down in a bitter sneer.

“You should have died in the temple,” she said, fury burning in her eyes. Rey felt an ache in her heart, like an old pain newly discovered. The sting of tears began to form in her eyes.

“I don’t understand,” Rey said, her voice cracking as hurt and confusion swamped her. This was the sister she’d looked up to, wasn’t it. Why did she hate her?

“You should never have been born. Now my father and my brother are dead because of you.”

Rey was struck to the core. Was this what she had waited for all her life? She stumbled back, tears welling in her eyes. Kylo stepped towards her, his lightsabre lowered but still humming a warning to the incautious.

“Rey.” She could hear a note of entreaty in his voice even though it was distorted by the mask. “She’s angry. She doesn’t know the truth.” Rey turned on him, anger flaring inside her.

“The truth. What’s the truth? Some joke that you’ve all played on me.” Rey felt a wave of nausea. Her vision was filled with dark patches, causing her to stumble. Painful fingers were digging into her mind. She put out her hands as if to ward it all off. It wasn’t true. She had to get away from them and think, get her mind in control before she… she didn’t know what but it frightened her. She turned and stumbled away.

“That’s it, run like you always did,” Gem screamed. Rey shut the vicious words out. She didn’t understand how her sister could be this awful woman. She’d clung to her miserable life on Jakku only because she hoped they would come back for her. She’d worn the same clothes, the same hair all her life because she was terrified they might not recognise her if they came back.

 There was something inside her that was building, feeding off her hurt and confusion. She could feel it in the pit of her stomach, rising up through her chest and into her mind. He fingers tingled with it. Rey tried to shut it down, she didn’t know what it was but it was dangerous. She had to get away where she could think.

Kylo came after her and she fled from him. He’d known about Gem and said nothing. Whatever the connection between them, whatever changes there were in him it didn’t matter. There was no reason why she should be mad at him for keeping things from her but she was.

Her eyes were half blinded with tears and so she didn’t see the man in front of her. She ran right into him, knocking the breath from her and almost knocking him down. Rey knew him straight away. Familiar arms enclosed about her and she fell against the only man who had ever been truthful to her.

Shock exploded down the bond between her and Kylo. A little shadow of guilt darkened her own mind when she realised she had also kept it from Kylo that his Uncle Luke was coming, was here. She knew it was selfish but she felt as though Luke was hers. Her mentor, her friend and helper. Rey buried her face in Luke’s chest, gasping for calming breaths and letting the image of the ocean and the island clear her head.

“I don’t understand,” she whimpered.

Luke was silent. Rey wanted him to say something. She looked up into the stern face of her master but he wasn’t looking at her. His eyes were locked on the man behind her. Rey turned. Kylo stood as though he was frozen to the spot. She expected him to snap into a defensive stance. Instead he was uncertain, his lightsabre hanging at his side. Rey could feel him reaching out in the force but not to her. He was reaching out to Luke. She felt it when he drew back as though hurt. Kylo straightened, waiting. Rey reminded herself these two men hadn’t seen each other for years and the last time they had the parting had been bitter and painful.

Rey stared open mouthed at Kylo. Something had changed, only hours ago he would have wanted to kill Luke. She hoped it was because of the little bit of light she’d tried to give him. Rey reached out to him through the bond and she found the light still in him. It was like lots of lights but there was darkness too and she pulled back. Her turmoil returned and with it the feeling of those icy fingers in her mind again. She thought of the ocean and the island and the creeping cold fingers disappeared.

Luke turned to Gem and Rey followed his gaze. The loathing in her sister’s face drained away to fear.

“So, you did escape the temple,” Luke said. Rey’s mouth dropped open. Rey felt unsteady on her feet as shock hit her like a blow. There was a cold and derisive laugh in the back of her mind that caused her mind to spiral into a valley of dark and grasping fears.

“What. Luke! What are you saying?” She pulled away from him. His eyes flicked to hers and they were full of anger and regret. He swallowed and it felt like they were back on that cliff-face again on Aach-To, his haunted stare causing her to tremble with fears and hurts she didn’t know the origins of.

“Luke, what are you saying?” His gaze rose again to Kylo and she thought she felt him shake but then Luke shook his head and his jaw firmed and his face hardened.

“We have to go,” Luke said. “The Resistance is going to take out the shipyards. If we stay here we’ll die in the explosion.” Rey frowned in confusion then gasped as she remembered why she was here. As much as she wanted to know the truth they couldn’t stay here. She looked around for Gem.

Gem had dragged herself to her feet and was limping away with the man whose arm Rey had cut off. Gem looked back, fear in her eyes. Fear at seeing Luke Skywalker. Gem didn’t look at Rey, she just turned with the other knight and ran…straight into the shipyards. Rey screamed.

“No. Gem. Don’t go in there. The Resistance is going to blow it up.” Rey tried to run after her but Luke grabbed her hand, dragging her towards the speeder.

“Rey we have to go before that ship crashes. When it does everything will blow. You too Ben. We have to go.” Rey twisted out of Luke’s grip and tried to run after her sister. Kylo leapt and caught her around the waist, hauling her into his arms. She beat at his arms and shoulders as he dragged her towards the speeder where Luke now headed but it was no use. His arms were like steel bands about her. If she tried to use the force to free herself but he just used it back again keeping her trapped against his chest.

“No, I have to stop Gem. I have to save her.”

“It’s too late. You can hear that ship coming Rey. Even if you find her you’ll never get out alive,” Kylo said. He wrestled her onto the back of the speeder. She wasn’t helping him at all. He grunted when she kicked him. Her head hit his mask and he muttered a curse under his breath. Her throat was burning and her lungs hurt from yelling her sister’s name and the exertion of fighting against him.

Luke was already in the driver’s seat and starting the engine. Rey knew they needed to go but she couldn’t just let her sister be killed and she kept fighting Kylo as he tried to get her into the speeder. Kylo tried to freeze her with the force but she hit back with a force slap that knocked his face sideways. In response he clamped one arm about her shoulders and the other about her waist and arms together, picked her up, her legs kicking and all but threw her into the passenger seat. He leapt onto the back of the speeder and hung on as Luke hit drive and the speeder shot forward. Rey was pressed back into the seat. She tried to climb out in one last vain hope that she could stop her sister from being killed but Kylo pushed her back down. She slumped in her seat, knowing it was useless as she gave up trying to follow her sister.

“Gem,” she whimpered. It couldn’t be true. She squeezed her eyes shut. She told herself her family was still out there. Somewhere. They were coming back.

Maz’s words echoed in her head. _They’re never coming back._ The dark spots swam before her eyes. Gem wasn’t coming back. Eli wasn’t coming back. It felt as though something in her mind was slipping. Something that had been covered over for a very long time started to push its way out.  

A deafening boom above them announced the arrival of the cruiser sent on a suicide mission to blow up the shipyards, the roar of its descent cancelling out all other noise. Even the thoughts in her head grew faint as it thundered past. Rey wrapped her arms about her and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to remember her sister from when they were young, not the bitter doomed woman who’d run into the shipyards. There was a thunderous roar and a red glow that grew brighter until it was white. Rey cried out in agony, knowing there was no hope for Gem. The speeder bumped as the pressure wave went through. Luke held it steady and Kylo hung onto her and the speeder.

If they’d hoped that was the worst of it they were wrong. Another deafening roar followed and the glow of the explosion grew even brighter, lighting up everything in stark relief. They were flying as fast as the speeder would take them but it wasn’t fast enough. The second pressure wave caught up with them and everything shattered about them. The speeder was tossed and they went hurtling with it.

Rey hit something and everything went black.

 

Kylo pushed himself up from among the debris on the ground. Everything hurt. Especially his leg. He looked down and saw a piece of metal sticking into his calf. He reached down to pull at it and winced as a stabbing pain caused his breath to catch. He yanked it out, blood flowing from the hole it had made in his boot before it buried itself in his leg. He tightened the clips in his boot and the blood stemmed a little. He looked around for Rey.

He saw his Uncle Luke first, lying face down and still. Kylo stared at him. From the moment their eyes had locked back at the tower a tumult of emotions caught at him, apprehension that his uncle was here, guilt for what he’d put him through and surprise that his uncle’s gaze hadn’t held the accusation and disappointment he remembered. Instead his Uncle had been assessing and wary but there had also been compassion and kindness in his eyes. His heart had swelled painfully. How he wished that look had been there the last time he’d seen his uncle.

With some hesitation, Kylo had reached out to him in the force and he’d been rebuffed but not with hate or anger but with a gentle reminder of their estrangement. Kylo felt hurt but he understood that his uncle wasn’t ready to let him in just yet. There was too much between them still and Kylo knew it was his wrongs that were greater. Just as it had been with his father, all the anger had drained away. All that he thought he’d wanted, demanded, from his uncle just didn’t seem to matter now.

Kylo drew in an unsteady breath. How was it that after all these years of rage and loathing he was just glad to see him?

Kylo limped through the debris, his boots crunching on metal and glass, then bent down and put a hand on his uncle’s shoulder. Luke groaned but Kylo could feel through the force he was not badly hurt, just dazed. His uncle had always felt so strong in the force and if anything he was stronger. He looked about for Rey again. He couldn’t see her. A prickle of dread caught at his chest. When the speeder had flipped she’d been thrown well clear. He reached out in the force but felt only a murky darkness in their bond. She was unconscious. He was wracked by thoughts of her lying injured and dying somewhere nearby while he searched for her without success. He reached up and unclipped his mask, pulling it off and tossing it aside. He needed to find her.

The burning shipyards were lengths behind them but the roar of its continuing destruction made it hard to hear anything else. The angry red and yellow glow from the inferno cast hellish silhouettes and shadows about him. They had been thrown from the speeder as they entered a square. In front of them was one of the ugliest buildings he’d ever seen. He continued to scan the buildings and pavement about him. With a shock he realised the Falcon was parked at the end of the square. Kylo swallowed. Chewbacca stood at the end of the ramp, carrying the same bowcaster he remembered. A longing to return filled him, so powerful he nearly lost his composure. He pushed it down. He couldn’t think about that now.

A form caught his eye, half obscured by the shadows and debris. A sliver of fear stabbed at him and he held his breath as he looked closer. It was her, lying crumpled at the bottom of a set of stairs leading to the ugly building.

He wanted to sprint to her side but his injured leg turned it into something more like a hobble. He smacked his knee on the ground as he skidded to a kneeling stop next to her but he ignored the burst of hot pain it caused. Her back was to him and he couldn’t see her face. She lay so still and fear threatened to rise up and strangle him at what that stillness meant. He called her name but his voice came out not much louder than a whisper. He stretched out a shaking hand to touch her arm. He shook her but there was no response. He skimmed his hand down her side and back up to her temple, trying to determine how injured she was.   

Her life force flowed evenly. She had no broken bones. The main problem was with her head. Kylo rolled her over and saw a large bleeding cut on her forehead. He touched it with his fingertips using the force to stop the bleeding. He delved deeper with the force, soothing swelling and bruising where he was able but it would take his uncle’s skill with the force to fully heal the wound.

As if on cue his uncle knelt by his side and reached down to place his hand on Rey’s head. Kylo felt the light that gathered and moved beneath his hand as he directed it over and into her wound. The hair across his body stood on end as he felt the power his uncle held and realised the strength in the humble use of it for good.

“Thank you,” Kylo said. He meant it for more than just helping Rey.

“There are lies Snoke told you,” Luke said. Kylo swallowed.

“I know.”

“They’ll be the same kind of lies he’ll tell Rey.”

Kylo felt a shiver run through him. Snoke was good at playing games. If he could have Rey and Kylo he would but he’d make them adversaries. That way he could use them both for what he wanted. Just like he did with him and Hux.

Kylo thought about Gem and the look on Rey’s face.

“I knew Gem survived but I didn’t know Snoke was going to send her here until she arrived,” Kylo said. Luke’s eyes narrowed and his lips pressed together into a straight line.

“It’s too planned out, too damaging for Rey. Snoke will not pass up this chance,” Luke said.

Kylo looked at his uncle and his eyes said he was thinking the same thing. They’d need to be careful if they were going to help her know the truth. That’s if she could remember it.

Without thinking about it Kylo slipped his hand in hers and held it against his chest. She felt tiny and fragile in his grip and he smiled at himself for ever being deceived into thinking she wasn’t a match for anything the force threw at her. Including him.

Rey’s eyes fluttered open. Kylo felt a surge of elation and touched her cheek with his fingertips. Rey’s eyes widened and her body stiffened, her hazel eyes sparking with fury. Kylo’s elation evaporated and he tensed, waiting for the storm to break. She was angry and he knew he was going to bear the brunt of it.

He really hoped she didn’t try and kill him again because right now he couldn’t imagine anyone more beautiful than her. He wanted to hold onto her for ever and that scared him. She pulled her hand from his grasp and he let her go, feeling a little lost without her touch. Her eyes grew dark, like a storm was coming.

“You. You left me behind. You left me there. It was you.”


	24. Chapter 24

Obi-Wan rubbed his chin as he looked at Anakin reclining in the soft grasses of Naboo.

“This is a really bad idea,” he muttered.

“Agreed but if it doesn’t go this way then the balance stays with Snoke. The imbalance remains,” Anakin said.

“And Yoda agrees.”

“Yes, but he was even less happy than you are.”

A figure with long hair and a beard appeared next to Anakin.

“I can see it too Anakin but there’s going to be consequences if we don’t get this right.”

“That’s why you’re going to be the one to do it Qui-Gon.”

“I figured as much,” Qui-Gon said, a brooding look on his face.

The trio stared at the path of the force, each one tracing the thread of each life as they interwove.

A smile plucked at the corner of Anakin’s mouth.

“What’s so funny,” Obi-Wan grumbled.

“The look on Snoke’s face when he sees the balance turn against him.”

A smile snuck its way onto Qui-Gon’s face as well. Obi-Wan’s face was the only one that remained grim.

“As long as Rey doesn’t end up here with us, permanently” Obi-Wan muttered.

“Oh, she will,” Anakin said. Obi-Wan glared at him.

“But not for a long time yet,” Anakin added with a grin.

Obi-Wan huffed and muttered further disapproval. “I guess it’s time,” he finally said.

Anakin’s face grew serious as he watched the interweaving paths of the force.

He looked up at Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon.

“Go now.”

 

 

_Rey_

Rey saw a man with a beard who sat in an old hut in a desert. Her grandfather.

_Rey. Its time you remembered who you are._

Her grandfather’s image faded.

Wait. Please come back.

_I’m still here. Go back to the beginning Rey._

A little girl in the dessert played with her doll. She watched the ships go up and knew one day they would come back for her. It had all been a mistake. The tall man had said that if she stayed with Unkar they would find her again. So she made sure she wore the same clothes and the same hair so they would recognise her as she got older.

_Rey. This is not who you are._

Tell me who I am.

_You know who you are._

A girl stood in a forest waiting for her family to come back. They’d promised to return. She ran after them but they were no longer there. She looked for them everywhere. It was a mistake. They wouldn’t leave her here alone. A shadow fell across her path. So tall and pale, with eyes like ice it took her hand and promised they would all come back. The girl cried and begged for her family’s return. The shadow’s old and gnarled hand, with its grey flesh and pointed nails, reached out and touched her on the head. Her tears dried up and she wondered what it was she had been so sad about. All she could remember was that her family would come back and she must wait with Unkar until they did.

_Rey. You must remember who you are._

Who am I?

_You know who you are._

She had to find Gem. If she didn’t then the nightmare would take her away.

She woke. It was a dream where a nightmare creature had caught her sister and taken her away. Rey jumped out of bed, threw on her practice clothes from the day before and ran from her room, looking for Gem. She could see her sister up ahead on the weedy stone path. She was almost at the old temple, its crumbling stone walls reflecting the darkness of the day.

Rey had overheard Gem talking with Eli the night before. Ben was going to do a test so Eli would catch the lightsabre. Rey had to stop it. If Eli caught the lightsabre then the nightmare would come and everyone would die.

Rey hid behind a column around which twined an old vine, waiting until it was time. She knew what she was going to do. She had to. She had to stop the nightmare from winning.

There were voices in the temple. The voices became angry but then she felt it, the pull of the force. Without hesitation she jumped out. The lightsabre fell so easily into her hand, her fingers closing about the hilt like magic. She’d done it. She’d stopped the nightmare from winning.

There was a laugh behind her, cold and sneering. She turned and saw the nightmare. All the hair on her body stood on end and her heart stopped. She hadn’t won. It was here. She had to warn them what was coming.

She turned back and everyone was angry with her. Master Luke, Ben, Eli, Gem, her father, the other padawans. They were all mad at her. She could feel their censure pressing down upon her through the force, the weight of it crushing every warning back into her mouth.

Master Luke was angry because she had interfered. She knew he thought she’d made things worse. Now he’d never teach her.

Eli, Gem and her father were angry because she was disobedient again and had shown off, ruining everything for Eli. She was always the little sister who was making trouble for her older siblings but all she wanted was for them to love her and give her a chance.

Ben was angry because she’d found him out. She’d foiled what he was doing. This made her the saddest because what she wanted was to stop the nightmare from hurting everyone.

Eli shrieked his rage and stomped towards her. Rey, her mind screaming her frustration and resentment, gripped the lightsabre and swore she’d never let him have it. Eli lunged for it and she hit out, fuelled by all her anger and resentment. The wave of pure force sent everyone stumbling back.

The temple began to crumble. What had she done? She saw the shadow of the force on it, a darkness that pushed. She yelled at Master Luke that the shadow was pulling it down. Too late a huge stone fell from above her. Gem rushed to get out of the temple, pushing her over and by chance out of the way of the stone. Rey stumbled, falling to her hands and knees only to be picked up and carried. Ben.

It was Ben who pulled her out. It was Ben who told her he’d keep her safe. She trusted Ben, no matter what others said about him. After Master Luke he was the only one who’d been kind to her. She cried as he carried her to the ship, weeping for the family that never truly loved her. He protected her when Eli came after her in the rain. When they got to that cold snowy place, Ben told her to wait for his return. But he never came back.

It was then the nightmare truly won. He came. He took her away. He told her Ben belonged to him now and would do what he said. Ben never returned and she was given to Unkar to take her away instead.

IT WAS BEN WHO DID THIS TO YOU.

Rey jumped in terror. She’d heard that voice before. It was the hateful voice of the nightmare. It made her so afraid. Her head ached so much she thought it would split and she pressed her head into her hands.

BEN LIED TO YOU. HE TOLD YOU HE’D COME BACK FOR YOU BUT HE KNEW HE NEVER WOULD. HE LEFT YOU TO ME.

Rey covered her ears. She didn’t want to hear what the horrible voice was saying. She wanted to run away and pretend none of it ever happened.

BEN KNEW ALL THAT TIME WHERE YOU WERE. HE KNEW ABOUT YOUR SISTER.

No. It wasn’t true.

BEN AND LUKE BOTH KNEW. THEY NEVER WANTED YOU. NO-ONE EVER WANTED YOU.

Rey’s head was spinning and aching.

YOU WERE JUST A NOBODY WHO WOULD GET IN THEIR WAY. THEY NEEDED TO GET RID OF YOU. THEY LEFT YOU. BEN LEFT YOU SO HE COULD COME TO ME AND BECOME KYLO REN. YOU WERE NOBODY.

Rey wept. It was true. She was nobody. That’s what she’d always been.

I’m nobody.

_Rey. Remember who you are._

I’m nobody.

_Rey. Remember who you are._

I’m….

_Rey. Remember who you are._

…Rey Kenobi. She wouldn’t listen to the nightmare any more. She knew who she was.

How could I have forgotten Grandfather?

_I allowed you to forget to keep you safe. But now you must remember._

I am Rey Kenobi. My mother was Galena Kenobi and my father was Korill Palpatine. This is what her mother had told her before she died.

Rey was waking up again. She lay on something cold and hard. A warm hand held hers. Her head hurt. Someone was talking.

“I knew Gem survived but I didn’t know Snoke was going to send her here until she arrived.”

It was Ben’s voice.

“It’s too planned out, too damaging for Rey for Snoke not to use it against her and us.”

Master Luke.

Wait. Was the nightmare right? Had Ben known about Gem? Was Luke afraid Snoke would use it against them?

Ben had left her behind. They’d all left her behind but Ben had promised to come back…except by then he belonged to Snoke and he hadn’t come back. She opened her eyes and looked up at him.

It wasn’t Ben. The scar across his face reminded her it was Kylo Ren…who’d left her to go and serve Snoke. She pulled away from Kylo.

“You. You left me behind. You left me there. It was you.”

He just stared at her for a moment, his mouth falling open.

“You remember.”

All the years in the dessert. Unkar Plutt. Loneliness. Other scavengers, thieves. Always so afraid. Hungry. Alone. Always alone. She scrambled to her feet. Rage engulfed her, rising in her heart like a whirlwind in the desert that consumes all in its path. Ben…Kylo Ren, had left her there for that nightmare, Snoke, who sent her to Unkar Plutt.

“I trusted you and you never came back.”

Kylo swallowed and stood. “Rey, I did come back but you were gone. I looked for you but I couldn’t find you. Everyone thought I killed you. Everyone except Snoke, or at least that’s what it seemed to me.” Here Kylo flicked a glance at Luke and a shadow of regret darkened Luke’s face.

Rey felt a surge of anger. “Don’t blame Luke. He did everything he could for you.”

“Not everything,” Luke said. Kylo watched his uncle for a moment. Luke sighed and shook his head.

“I refused to listen. Snoke had me so wound up about prophecies and philosophies I couldn’t see what was going on under my own nose.”

Rey could feel it, a bond between Kylo and Luke. It shone and grew stronger. Rey felt a stab of jealousy.

HE’S GOING TO REPLACE YOU. NOW THAT BEN IS BACK LUKE WON’T BE BOTHERED WITH TEACHING YOU ANYMORE.

That awful voice. Not so loud this time but striking deeper into her soul. She’d heard it before. She would have told herself before that the voice lied and refused to listen to it but now she wasn’t so sure.

THEY’LL DUMP YOU BACK ON JAKKU.

No, Luke wouldn’t do that.

KYLO WILL WORM HIS WAY BACK INTO LUKE’S HEART, PRETENDING TO BE BEN THEN HE’LL CONVINCE LUKE TO GET RID OF YOU.

“No. I won’t let him,” she snapped at the voice.

Both Luke and Kylo looked at her. She drew in a shaky breath, had she spoken her thoughts aloud. She found her gaze begin to jump all over the place rather than meet their eyes. Kylo’s brows drew together in concern, a ‘v’ appearing in the centre of his forehead. He stepped towards her.

“Rey. What’s going on? What do you remember?” he said. Luke was watching her, his face impassive. His lack of expression sent a nervous pulse through her. Rey shook her head as though she might dislodge her thoughts and be rid of them. She wasn’t going to listen to that awful voice anymore. Her mind was in chaos. So many memories whirled about her head. She couldn’t get a handle on it all.

“Nothing’s going on. It’s just strange. Everything’s a jumble. I don’t know what’s real and what’s not.”

Kylo stepped towards her. He put a hand on her shoulder. The touch was warm and electric, comforting and startling. He heart jumped and she jumped, pulling away from him. He’d betrayed her. He’d done terrible things to her and to…others. And then there was…

“Gem. What happened to Gem?” Kylo’s face gave away his guilt.

“She joined the Knights of Ren. She is…was…a Knight of Ren. She thought you were dead. We all thought you were dead until I found you on Jakku.”

Rey thought about this for a moment. It seemed to make sense. But there was one thing that didn’t.

“Why does she hate me so much?” Kylo’s shoulders sagged and he looked down.

“When you knocked the stone from the temple and brought it down your father died. She hates you for that.” Rey watched him. He didn’t look at her. She saw his lip dimple as he chewed the inside of it.

“That’s not all is it?” she said.

Kylo closed his eyes and drew in a shaky breath. He opened his mouth to speak then closed it. He scowled and avoided looking her in the eye. He was angry but she could feel he wasn’t angry with her.

“She also believes you were the one who killed Eli.”

Rey felt her mouth drop open.

“What. That’s not true you know…” The realisation hit her like a star destroyer. Rey knew why Gem would think this.

“You never told her it was you,” Rey said. She could feel a deep surge of anger rise up within her. 

“Rey. Be careful,” Luke said. “You must control your feelings. You cannot let them rule your actions.”

Rey took a steadying breath. Unbidden a hot stab of anger lanced at her mind.

HE LEFT YOU. HE LIED ABOUT YOU.

Rey could feel it – like a hand closing about her mind bringing with it a red fog. She pushed it away, focussing her mind on the image of the ocean and the island.

“Master Luke. You’re alright.” A boy with long dark hair pulled back in a plait appeared at the top of the stairs. They all looked up at him. Rey thought there was something familiar about him.

“It’s ok Sanjo. A few scrapes and bruises but we’re all fine,” Luke said. Kylo laughed.

“Another student uncle. You still pick them up like stray nerflings.” A wry grin softened Luke’s mouth for a moment.

Rey felt a cold wave of fear. Luke had replaced her. He already had a new student. Her stomach dropped and she swayed. After everything she’d been through he wouldn’t do this to her.

LUKE WILL ABANDON YOU TOO.

Rey felt unsteady. The voice in her head felt as though it were consuming her, repeating over and over again. There was something she was trying to remember but she couldn’t focus on it. She stood there, feeling as though she were drowning in fear and anger.

“Rey. Don’t let your mind become captive to him.” It was Kylo. He was looking into her eyes. He came closer. He reached out and took her hand in a gentle grip. She shivered at his touch.

“I can feel it Rey. I can hear his voice inside your mind.” Rey looked at him. When she first saw him at Luke’s academy she’d felt an instant connection to him. Now it seemed silly.

HE LIED TO YOU. HE LEFT YOU BEHIND.

The red fog descended on her mind. All the pain and misery she had endured was his fault. She’d trusted him and he’d left her behind. Because she was nobody.

Well she wasn’t a nobody anymore.

YOU’RE SPECIAL REY. YOU’RE STRONG. STRONGER THAN ANY OF THEM. YOU WILL SHOW THEM HOW STRONG YOU ARE AND THEN NO-ONE WILL DARE TURN THEIR BACK ON YOU EVER AGAIN.

She pulled her hand from Kylo’s. Startled, he straightened and reached for her again. She stepped back from him. His brows knitted together, his mouth rounded into an O of sadness and his eyes were bereft. Rey nearly lost her heart to him right then but she had to stay strong. She wouldn’t let him fool her again, whatever words he used to beseech her to come to him again.

“Rey don’t listen to him. Don’t listen to Snoke. He lied to me. He’ll lie to you.”

Rey wasn’t listening any more. Ben had lied to her too. She’d paid dearly for his treachery. He should pay for abandoning her. And now she had the means to do it.

There was a chuckle behind her. Somewhere deep in her mind she thought it sounded like the nightmare from before but the chuckle grew until it sounded like many voices mocking her and her pain. Their voices. She yanked the lightsabre from her belt and ignited it.

“I am Rey Kenobi Palpatine and I won’t let you ever hurt me again.”

She stalked towards Kylo. He stood his ground. He hadn’t yet raised his weapon. Fine. She would take him down regardless.

“WELL DONE, REY. YOU HAVE BRROKEN YOUR CHAINS. NOW USE YOUR POWER.”

She recognised the voice but she didn’t care anymore. She would make Kylo Ren pay. They would all pay.

 

 

Kylo felt a cold sweat swathe his body, the hair on the back of his neck prickling upright as Rey fell prey to Snoke’s manipulation, sliding headlong into the dark side before his eyes. He could feel it in her. A dark stain that grew and grew, consuming her.

He’d felt the disturbance in the force as Snoke and the other Knights of Ren approached, in spite of their use of the force to shield themselves. Five Knights of Ren emerged from the darkness to surround Snoke. He froze as Snoke and the knights took up a position behind Rey. Snoke appeared as a hologram, projected by a disk that floated near to the ground. Kylo knew the electronic projection was in no way inferior to Snoke’s actual presence. He’d felt the power of his Master too many times not to realise how much danger Rey was in.

“Snoke, I wondered when you would show your face,” Luke said as he strode towards the grainy image of his enemy. Kylo watched his uncle from the corner of his eye, keeping his main attention on Rey as she circled him, leading him away from Luke and the Knights. Luke was externally casual but internally he was coiled and ready to strike. The five Knights of Ren ignited their lightsabres and placed themselves between where Kylo and Rey circled each other and where Luke and Snoke faced off.

“SKYWALKER, IT’S BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE OUR LAST MEETING.”

“You don’t seem to have healed as well as I have,” Luke said.

Luke’s words elicited a memory that still left Kylo shaken. He could see his uncle, that twisting leap, leaving Snoke wounded in the snow when he’d tracked them down after the academy. He should have died but Snoke had used it to his advantage. Surviving and pointing fingers at Luke. Claims of a cover-up about the temple and Rey’s disappearance mushroomed up from everywhere. Then came the news that Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader were one and the same. A man the Knights of Ren emulated and Kylo realised he was his grandson. Snoke had used it well to his advantage, turning Kylo against his uncle, his family…and for what. Lies, murder and destruction.

Kylo had no time to ponder the events of the past. Rey was stalking him and he had yet to raise his lightsabre. He knew if he raised his sabre she would attack but she would attack anyway. If he held off as long as he could he might be able to reason with her.

“Rey. This is not you. Remember the light Rey. Don’t let the dark side consume you.”

“No. I know who I am. This is who I am.”

“No, it’s not. Rey come back. Come back to the light.”

Rey scowled. Shaking her head.

“Isn’t this what you wanted Kylo. To teach me about the dark side? Well now’s your chance.”

A memory of his uncle’s face came to him as Kylo had gone after Luke in the same way Rey now came after him. He understood now that his uncle’s hesitation wasn’t weakness but sorrow and love. Rey would come for him no matter what, now that Snoke had hold of her.

Kylo raised his lightsabre and kicked it into life. He had no choice.

“Kylo. Rey. Don’t do this. You know this is what Snoke wants,” Luke yelled. Snoke laughed.

“IT’S WHAT REY WANTS. REVENGE FOR ALL THOSE YEARS ON JAKKU.”

Kylo waited for Rey. She would be the one to attack. He knew this for certain. They circled each other. She lunged and brought her lightsabre about in a tidy arc at his midsection. It was just a test. He parried it easily. She stepped back, cold and calculating, her survival instinct channelled into her desire for vengeance left him shaken.

Luke strode forward, towards Snoke. There was a hiss as his lightsabre ignited. The Knights reacted, surrounding Snoke.

Electricity crackled through the air, encircling Luke. Snoke sneered at him.

“OH, IT WON’T BE SO EASY THIS TIME SKYWALKER.”

Luke stood motionless for a moment but then he walked through the circle of malevolent energy as though it were nothing. Kylo nearly lost track of Rey. How was his uncle able to do that?

Snoke’s eyes narrowed and his mouth twisted in his scar ruined face even further.

“YOU THINK YOU KNOW BETTER THAN I ABOUT THE FORCE JEDI. I’LL SHOW YOU WHAT IT MEANS TO KNOW THE FORCE.”

Snoke lifted a finger and Rey screamed. She charged at Kylo and on reflex he raised his lightsabre. The crack and buzz of their lightsabres contacting bounced off everything. Kylo could feel the power flowing through Rey. Her blow was heavy and vicious with the dark side of the force. He stumbled back, the force of her blow sending a shockwave through his hands and wrists.

Memories like lightning burst into his mind. Luke had stopped short of killing him after Kylo turned. Even when Luke had the upper hand he’d allowed Kylo to take it back again and again. He’d been stupid enough to think it was his own efforts that had saved him from his uncle’s wrath.

Kylo’s distraction cost him. He parried another blow from Rey but not before she left a slash across his arm. Kylo hissed and pulled on the force to overcome the pain and refocus his mind on Rey.

A dry husk of a cackle ejected from Snoke’s lips.

“OH, SKYWALKER. LOOK NOW AT YOUR CHOSEN ONE?”

Luke’s mouth twitched as he watched the still inactive Knights of Ren. He raised his voice so everyone could hear his reply.

“Every Jedi is chosen and every Jedi that chooses the light brings balance to the force.”

Kylo nearly lost the fight with Rey right then. His shock at his uncle’s words distracting him from the blow she arced towards his legs. He parried in time but he had to step back and give ground as a result.

The argument over the chosen one. That’s what had been at the crux of the split. At least that’s what Kylo had thought. He knew better now than to think it was just arguments about doctrine. They were a distraction. But this was different. Luke had just blown all their arguments into stardust.

Another blow from Rey nicked his shoulder and he lunged in to try and flick the lightsabre out of her hand. It didn’t work of course and he was left with a singed leg for his trouble.

He’d heard so much about the chosen one and how Rey fit the prophecy. So had his grandfather. And now he knew that his grandfather had indeed chosen the light in the end. If Rey chose the dark…he couldn’t let that happen.

He felt Snoke’s cold fingers in his mind, trying to take control. He dug down to the light within and let it flow until Snoke retreated.

In retaliation Rey screamed again, her attacks becoming frenzied. Snoke was pushing her. He had to concentrate on anticipating her strikes. Kylo could feel his muscles tire and ache. He knew this was also one of Snoke’s tactics, using the force to tire an opponent. Kylo let the force flow through him as his uncle had taught him. He pulled on that light again and felt it surge within him. He landed a blow on Rey’s shoulder and she stumbled back. She recovered and came at him from a different angle, forcing him to spin and give ground again. It was almost as though she were driving him. Keeping him apart from his uncle.

Kylo could feel another struggle happening between Snoke and Luke. He could feel it taking up Snoke’s reserves. The Knights were little more than decoration about his holodisk as power built between Snoke and Luke.

“Use the bond,” Luke yelled. Kylo wasn’t sure what he was talking about for a moment until he reached out to his uncle and was pushed back.

“Rey. The bond with Rey.”

Snoke rocked back and laughed. “THE BOND HE HAS WITH THIS GIRL HE BARELY KNOWS.” Snoke leaned forward and sneered. “I THINK YOU’LL FIND THE BOND I FORMED WITH MY APPRENTICE SINCE HE LEFT YOU IS FAR GREATER.”

Kylo knew this to be a lie. That bond was weakening fast. The problem was that the bond he’d felt with Rey was also weakening because of Snoke. Luke responded to Snoke’s arrogant words without hesitation.

“Ben. The bond you have with Rey. It’s stronger than anything you have with Snoke. The bond that was forged on Bespin.”

Snoke’s grasp on Rey weakened for a moment and the darkness in her subsided. She blinked and looked about.

Snoke’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped open just a little. Kylo felt Snoke’s surprise. He couldn’t believe he’d missed one very important detail from all of his calculations.

Kylo’s own mind reeled from what Luke was saying. What was he saying?

A picture formed in his mind. A woman with a baby. It was nothing special. Just a chance meeting when he was a boy. Ben had let the baby wrap her tiny fingers around his much larger finger and for some reason he’d wanted to look at the baby girl forever. Uncle Luke had found him and chastised him for slipping away from his parents. He’d barely given it a thought since. Surely that didn’t mean anything. But then it wasn’t long afterwards he’d seen the strange girl in his dreams. It wasn’t long after that when he’d first heard Snoke call to him.

Something changed in the way Kylo thought of his life. Rey had been there first.

He looked at Rey. It was the same link. It felt the same. It had lain dormant for so long but flared to life just a little all those years ago when Rey and her family had come to them to be trained and again on Starkiller base when she’d smashed into his ordered world.

One thing he was certain of. If the bond was broken they would both suffer. If one died, the other would likely die too…or, if only one survived, the other would be easy prey to Snoke. That was what Snoke wanted. To break the bond.

Kylo reached out to Rey, following that link. Snoke snapped back into Rey’s mind, urging her to push him away. Kylo felt physically hurt when she did.

The cold vengeance in Rey’s eyes was soul destroying. His grandfather’s words “a fiend even Snoke can’t control” flitted through his mind. He had to stop this. He reached for her through the force again but she struck back. He took the force blow and stood firm. This was not what he wanted. He wanted to see those eyes burning with the light again. He wanted to touch her beautiful face again and kiss her. He wanted to be there in her thoughts as she was in his. He wanted to show her he’d changed.

It wasn’t truly her who launched herself towards him again, lightsabre aimed directly for his heart. He parried her blow but they were coming closer and closer to his death. The power of the dark side within her was building he wouldn’t be able to hold her at bay forever.

Rey spun and sliced through the air towards Kylo’s head. He caught the sabre in time before she decapitated him. He felt a surge of fear and by reflex channelled it into his anger. He surged towards Rey, beating down her sabre and pushing her back. His aim was to pin her down but she used his height against him and slipped from under his reach. He recognised the scavenger’s move from Starkiller and circled about as well meeting her in another lightsabre lock. He stared into her face, her eyes filled with murderous intent. He didn’t see the softness of her own eyes but instead the coldness of Snoke’s. She bared her teeth and pushed him back. He let her come but looked for his own ground this time.

He could feel power building and so could Rey, her eyes flicking to where Luke and Snoke faced off. It was like the two masters were fighting each other in their minds. The force was bouncing back and forth between them, building, twisting, expanding into something with physical weight. Pure light wrestled with pure dark and it was chocking everything else. Kylo could see the knights edging away, fear in their guts.

Solia stood with the boy Luke had called Sanjo near the stairs, their familial resemblance obvious. Kylo could feel an added streak of jealousy from Rey. Yes, he understood that. Rey had no family.

Kylo could feel the force within her building in the same way as it built between Luke and Snoke. The problem was she couldn’t control it. Just like in the temple, only now…

The air burst with electricity, searing, crackling, deafening, blinding. Kylo didn’t know if it came from Rey or from the battle between Luke and Snoke. All he knew is that they were all flying backwards.

Kylo tried to pull a force shield around himself and Rey. It wasn’t enough though. He lost her and he lost where he was himself. He clawed his way back through the pain and his dazed state of mind.

He was lying on his side and he’d dropped his lightsabre. He pushed himself to get up off the ground. His vision was blurred and he drew on the force as best he could to clear his mind. He could just get a picture of Luke picking himself up while Snoke hovered, his hologram phasing in and out. The Knights were still down.

He couldn’t see Rey. He reached out. She was behind him. He needed his lightsabre. He looked about and saw it on the ground. He reached for it. He could feel Rey pulling too, for her lightsabre.

Time seemed to slow down. His thoughts sped up. As the lightsabres flung through the air, each towards a hand, something overpowering moved in the force. The two lightsabres crashed into one another, spinning off in unplanned tangents. Kylo was stunned when Rey’s blue lightsabre, his old lightsabre, flew into his hand and his own red sabre flew into Rey’s. For a moment Rey looked at the black mended cross-guard hilt. Kylo felt the familiar grip of the blue lightsabre, Anakin Skywalker’s lightsabre.

Rey ignited the red sabre and leapt through the air. Kylo knew this was the moment. The dream. Rey holding his red lightsabre. He was going to die and he was going to let her kill him because he couldn’t kill her.

_You must._

The words whispered in his mind warred with his own defeated spirit. He heard Snoke’s laugh, felt his exultation and anticipation at Kylo’s death. Rey would then belong to Snoke. A fiend, severed from the bond, blazing her unfettered anger, vengeance, misery and emptiness across the galaxy and Snoke always there behind her.

Something angry, twisted and possessive flared within Kylo. Even if he died he wasn’t going to let Snoke take Rey from him. Rey was almost upon him. He stepped to the side just a little and ignited the blue blade of his grandfather’s lightsabre.

The force flowed into his body, his arms, hands and fingers. Down to the finest degree the lightsabre had a mind of its own as it pierced Rey’s body. He saw her face go blank as she fell the full length of the blade down to the hilt. A reciprocal pain in his own chest nearly left him undone.

Kylo jammed his thumb onto the switch that retracted the blade, anguish overtaking every corner of his mind. He threw the sabre aside as Rey dropped his, their clatter against the cold, hard ground a jarring sound in the silence. She fell against him, her eyes filled with pain and confusion. He wrapped his arms about her and sank to his knees, supporting her as her body swayed and crumpled.

With gentle hands he laid her on the ground. He covered the wound with one shaking hand and with the other cradled the back of her head. She looked up at him, her eyes calm. He reached into her mind and the physical pain in her body nearly crippled him but her mental pain was gone. Snoke was gone. He saw the light begin to glimmer within her again. Her mouth opened and closed once and then her eyelids fluttered down, covering the light within.

“No. Rey, come back,” Kylo whimpered. He brought his other hand up and cupped her cheek, stroking its soft curve. He bent and brushed his lips against her cheek then pulled her close as he buried his face in her neck, his tears soaking into her hair.


	25. Chapter 25

“Rey.”

Kylo heard his uncle’s shout but could do nothing but hold her. He was cold, turned to stone. Waves of anguish overtook him. What had he done? She’d called him a monster once. Nothing had changed. His hands and heart so tainted with blood, he killed what he loved.

KYLO

He pushed Snoke away in his head.

He didn’t want anyone but the woman in his arms.

KYLO, I CAN SAVE HER.

“Kylo, no. Please no.”

His uncle’s words struck at his heart. Kylo knew he’d gone too far…again. After all his promises to himself that he would turn away from the dark side and follow the light, what had he done? What did he expect? He was still so caught up in the dark side he knew no other way. He’d fallen back into it again at the thought of losing her. No. At the thought of someone else having her.

He thought he’d overcome that possessive, jealous streak he’d battled every time he’d missed out on time with his parents. Once again he had lost what he loved because he couldn’t control his emotions. The weak and foolish boy that was Ben Solo was still alive and well.

He felt his uncle’s approach, his anger a white hot brand on his psyche.

YOU CARE FOR HER. LET ME SAVE HER.

He raised his head and looked at Rey. Her eyes fluttered open for a moment and she struggled to take a breath. His heart stopped and hope rose in all its deceptive possibilities. Could she be saved? He pressed his hand against the wound, thinking to close it but he felt a surge of pain from her through the bond and he faltered.

“Rey.” His voice a broken whisper. All he could do was stare down at her face as her eyes closed again. She was dying.

“What have you done?” His uncle’s voice tinged with horror and blame. 

Kylo felt the slow bun of anger and shame begin to eat at him. He’d done the only thing he could, stopped her from killing him and casting herself into a life in bondage to Snoke. He looked up at his uncle standing over him. Luke’s face hardened, his eyes boiling with rage.

“WELL, WELL KYLO REN. YOU HAVE SHOWN YOUR WILLINGNESS TO GIVE HER UP. I MAY YET ACCEPT YOU BACK INTO MY FOLD. I SEE YOUR UNCLE WONT BE ACCEPTING YOU BACK INTO HIS.”

Kylo knew Snoke’s taunt was meant for Luke, not him.

I CAN SAVE HER.

Kylo pushed Snoke away again but that hook of darkness in his brain still allowed Snoke to creep back in.

I can’t trust you. You lied to me.

_I_ LIED TO _YOU_. I KNOW YOU LIED ABOUT ELI AND NO DOUBT YOU LIED ABOUT WHERE REY WAS ALL THESE YEARS.

I never knew where Rey was.

Snoke’s laugh echoed about him.

“IT SEEMS I WIN AGAIN SKYWALKER.”

“Ben. Let her go,” Luke ordered. Kylo tensed. He pulled Rey closer. A strangled gasp escaped her throat. He loosened his grip afraid he’d hurt her. She shuddered and struggled for another breath. He reached to her along the bond trying to ease her pain but his own shattered emotions kept him from helping her in the way she needed. He needed to calm himself.

I CAN SAVE HER IF YOU LET ME. LUKE CAN’T DO WHAT I CAN DO.

Kylo didn’t want to listen to Snoke but desperation began to creep into his soul as he felt Rey start to slip away from him. He thought of Rey’s light. Yes, if he gave it back to her then maybe…

_No, not while Snoke can take it._

Snoke scowled as he watched Kylo. Had he heard the whispered words? They were the same voice he’d heard before he’d impaled Rey. Anakin Skywalker. Why had he listened to him?

How can I trust you?

A different voice whispered beside him.

“I can save her, if you let me.”

It was Solia, the heretic, kneeling beside him. He looked at her wondering if she just might be able to. He knew she had some healing skill from what she’d done to him. She wouldn’t need to use the force and somehow that seemed more trustworthy.

He saw the green stone bracelet on her wrist. An idea came to him. She followed his gaze to her bracelet and nodded. Instead of taking off the bracelet though she reached into Rey’s satchel and drew out a ring with the same green stones. Kylo moved just slightly to allow her to slip it onto Rey’s finger.

Kylo almost died right then as he felt Rey’s presence in the force go out. She may as well have been dead.

Snoke and Luke both reacted when they felt it. Luke’s shoulders sagged, his eyes closed and his chin fell to his chest. It was the Luke that Kylo remembered when he’d found his dead students.

Snoke darted forward on his holodisk.

“NO. NOT YET.”

Kylo froze. He stared down at Rey. Her eyes remained closed. Rage began to burn within Kylo. One slip of the tongue and he knew Snoke’s game. Yes, it was possible to heal a dying person with the dark side of the force as Snoke had tempted Kylo with – if you take the life of another. Snoke would demand Kylo’s life to heal Rey and once again he’d win, destroying the bond and taking Rey for himself.

He turned to Solia and in a low growl gave her his warning. “Do not fail.” The woman swallowed but nodded.

Kylo bent and pressed his lips to Rey’s in a brief kiss. He loosened his grip on her and laid her back on the ground, agonizing over the moment he would have to let her go. He stared at her face framed by dark wisps of hair, her soft skin where the sweep of her lashes shadowed the curve of her cheeks. He traced the gentle curve of her lower lip with his thumb and trailed his fingertips across her freckled cheekbone. He took a deep breath and pulled away.

He reached for his grandfather’s sabre where it lay on the ground and tucked it into Rey’s belt. It was hers now. He stood and looked about for his lightsabre. He needed to make a distraction while Solia worked. He saw the Knights and looked up at the image of Snoke. He looked into the Supreme Leader’s eyes. What he was about to do would not go well for him he was sure but he would do it for Rey. He extended his hand and pulled his lightsabre to him.

Luke’s sabre was in his hand as he fell into an easy defensive stance but he didn’t extend the blade. Perhaps he knew Kylo wasn’t after him. The Knights had their sabre’s ready also.

Kylo pulled on the old bond with Luke, rusty as it was, sending the briefest signal of his intention before he ignited his sabre, its red light adding to the shadows and lights from the shipyard inferno and the streetlights that had survived, and surged past him towards the closest Knight.

Jaru Ren, the most powerful below himself, raised his blade and Kylo channelled all his anger and hurt into his attack. The other Knights stayed where they were surrounding Snoke. Kylo beat back Jaru’s blows and swept his sabre in a deadly arc for Jaru’s midsection. Jaru parried but Kylo drew on the force. Dark and easy it flowed. He knew this was wrong but he wouldn’t back down now. He didn’t look at Snoke but he could feel him watching on with interest as he first attacked and then defended himself against Jaru. Kylo could feel the other knight's confusion but also his determination to serve his true Master. As Kylo had always known, his first loyalty was to Snoke.

Kylo felt his sabre contact flesh and pressed the advantage while Jaru’s pain burned the brightest. Jaru stumbled back, roaring in pain. Another knight, Savain Ren came to Jaru’s defence, intending to surprise Kylo with a stab to the back. Kylo spun and brought his sabre up and across the knight’s middle, leaving him open from hip to shoulder for his underhand tactic.

“KILL HIM.” Snoke roared.

Kylo whirled back to the other knights as they came, taking up a defensive stance. But it wasn’t the Knights he wanted. It was Snoke. He’d downed Savain and knocked Jaru out of the way. The other Knights merged on him. Kylo blocked the angled arc of Vanus Ren and pushed him back with the force. The next was a direct attack by Nandia Ren but he swept the sabre aside then flicked it out of her grasp. The third, Arak Ren stabbed his sabre into Kylo’s side before he could turn back from Nandia. Kylo hissed and cursed under his breath. He could feel it wasn’t deep enough to stop him so he ignored the pain and spun, knocking the sabre away. He went after Arak and landed a blow down into his shoulder, taking him out of the fight.  

Jaru, Vanus and Nandia returned to the fight. A flash of green caught the corner of his eye and the buzz of sabre contact. Luke had joined the fight, taking on Vanus as he rushed at Kylo from behind. Kylo felt a little spark of gratitude towards his uncle as he no doubt kept him from being stabbed in the back again. He didn’t know if Luke would continue to help him. It didn’t matter. He would take out each knight if he had to.

Kylo and Jaru locked sabres. Vanus didn’t last long against Luke, losing his sabre and receiving a wound to his leg that prevented him from standing. Nandia backed up Jaru and landed a nick to Kylo’s back, reopening part of his bowcaster wound. He growled and sent her flying but not before he gave her a leg wound to match Vanus.

Jaru, in spite of his wound was fast, strong and took advantage of the opening Kylo left while dispatching Nandia. He brought his blade in fast in a deadly blow to Kylo’s side but he barely seared Kylo’s flesh before he was yanked back and impaled on Luke’s sabre. Luke allowed Jaru to fall forward to the ground. Kylo stared at his uncle, mouth open. Luke pressed his lips together and nodded once then turned to Snoke.

“It’s over Snoke,” Luke said. Snoke’s icy glare took in both Kylo and Luke. Kylo could feel the rage pulsating from the Supreme Leader.

Kylo chanced a look for Rey and realized that she’d been moved up the stairs closer to that ugly building they were in front of. At least she was out of the way. He turned back to Snoke where his malevolent gaze was locked on Luke.

“SO YOU SAY.” Snoke lifted a finger and pointed at Kylo. Pain flared from every wound Kylo had ever received, whether it was fresh, partially healed or fully healed. He could hear his screaming as though it came from a long distance away. He knew Snoke was accessing the memories of his pain and amplifying it not causing actual damage. It was torture by use of their master and apprentice bond. Kylo wasn’t strong enough to fight it and his body reacted as though it were wounded for real.

His whole body jerked and seized, he gasped for air but was unable to take even the smallest breath. He fell to the ground, his shoulder crunching painfully on the hard pavement. Pain burst in his head as it also hit the pavement. He felt his heart racing and jerking about in his chest until he was sure he was going to die. It was all Kylo could do not to lose consciousness.

He didn’t know how long he lay there, his body thrashing and jerking while Snoke triggered each searing, cutting and shattering pain until he was mindless with agony. It might have been moments or hours. He should have known his rebellion would be short lived. Snoke had too much of a hold on him.

The pain stopped. It was gone except for the injuries he’d sustained when he fell. Kylo sucked in a breath and wrapped his arms about his chest. He heard Snoke roar. Kylo opened his eyes just enough to see Luke stab his sabre through the holodisk on which Snoke stood. The image flickered and faded.

With one last sneer Snoke pointed at Kylo and sent a twisting burst of power into him, aimed directly for his heart. Kylo didn’t feel the pain of it, he just felt the power slam into his chest and crush his life. Snoke disappeared but Kylo wasn’t sure if it was because Luke had swung his sabre a second time through the disk or that Kylo was dying, again, and was blinded by the lightning coursing over his body.

The sound in his ears of the rushing blood faltered and stopped. Kylo let go. He thought of Rey.

Please I don’t want to leave her.

Even as he thought it he felt it stir deep within him. Rey’s light. Like a supernova it pulsed within him, pushing out all the dark power Snoke had thrust into him. Kylo felt joy like he’d never felt before as the light swept through him like a cleansing flood. All he could do was lay there as it did its work. Kylo breathed and the light began to recede. He sucked in great gulps of air until he felt his life secure within him again.

He began to hear again what was happening around him.

“Sanjo, where’s father. I need his help.”

“Ben.”

“I need a droid with a basic medical attachment.”

“Chewbacca, we need BB-8.”

“Ben.”

He reached towards Rey through the force but he felt nothing. She still had the force block on.

“Help me get the bacta tube through.” There was a gruff bark from the Wookie. “Yes. I need you to roll her on her side so I can…”

“Ben.”

Kylo pulled himself up to his knees and sat back on his haunches. He looked up into the face of his uncle. His anger had tempered to some degree. He felt it across the old bond he had once tried to sever but was now re-emerging. Kylo reached out tentatively through the force to his Uncle. There was a guarded acceptance and Kylo was willing to take at least that much. He felt that he was now severed from Snoke and he felt a weakness without him.

_Now you can grow in true strength, through the force._

Kylo recognized the voice. His grandfather. Luke raised an eyebrow. Did he know? Did he hear the voice too?

“We need to leave here soon,” Luke said. Kylo nodded. He looked across at the Knights, some still lying on the ground, others trying to rise. They had been his enforcers, killers each one. Attacking them had not been his best idea. Another layer of guilt needled at him as he looked down at Jaru. He was their true leader. In many ways Jaru’s dedication had surpassed his own. They had served him under Snoke’s orders.

“I can’t just leave them.” Kylo pulled himself to his feet and took a few shaky steps towards Jaru. It was Nandia that stood and faced Kylo.

“You are no longer our Master,” she spat. Kylo stared at her then laughed, his side where Arak stabbed him hurting as he did.

“I was never truly your master was I? You always belonged to Snoke first.”

Nandia sneered and turned away. She helped Vanus to his feet and they slunk away into the darkness. Kylo looked at the rest. Jaru was dead but Arak and Savain were still alive. Kylo had no intention of letting them live.

“Ben. No.” He spun to face his uncle, his anger flaring.

“You let the dark side in again and you’ll never be free.”

Kylo growled. “Who said I was free of the dark side.”

“It’s what you want.”

“How do you know what I want?”

Luke turned and looked over at Rey where she was surrounded by those working to fix what he’d done. Kylo felt his heart contract painfully in his chest. Yes, he wanted her. His body galvanized into movement, taking him up the stairs to her side.

Chewbacca stood and roared a blatant curse at him. Kylo skidded to a stop and retreated, shock ricocheting through his body. He should have known he would not be welcomed by the Wookie. They had not been close since he was very young. Ben Solo had seen Chewbacca as another competitor for his father’s attention, seeming to spend more time with the Wookie than his own son. Now the Wookie stood between him and Rey. He clenched his fists, knowing he could sweep the Wookie aside if he truly wished. But he wouldn’t. If there was one thing he’d learned, it was that he couldn’t just take whatever he wanted.

Kylo closed his eyes and took a steadying breath then knelt on the ground a short distance away from her, watching her for any signs of life.

Solia was wrapping the wound, into which something was inserted into the wound. No doubt the bacta tube he’d heard a mention of. The little ball droid had an arm extended and was holding tubes and bags. An older man was looking at data readouts from the little ball droid.

“Something’s wrong. This should be working. The perforated lung is sealed. She has no bleeding. No major blood vessels were severed. What is it?”

Kylo shuddered. He knew what was wrong. He looked back up at his uncle.

“You have to take the force block off her.” His uncle’s jaw flexed and his eyes narrowed and crinkled. Kylo wasn’t sure what his reaction would be for a moment but then he extended his hand and the ring slid from Rey’s finger. Rey’s presence in the force emerged from behind the block and Kylo gasped, relief flooding him as he let himself bask in her light once again.

Kylo shuffled over towards Rey and Chewbacca growled.

“Let him in Chewie,” his uncle said. Chewbacca didn’t move at first but then retreated with a guttural sound that Kylo was sure included a threat against his life, the Wookie’s powerful body still in a defensive stance. Kylo’s hair stood on end, knowing if Chewbacca chose this could turn ugly fast. There would be significant injuries on both sides but no regret’s from the Wookie. The understanding that Kylo was here to help Rey was all that placated him.

Kylo knelt beside Rey.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong,” Solia said. “This should be working.”

Kylo took a slow breath, let it out and willed himself to be calm and find the bond. He reached out and touched Rey on the temple, finding the way in he’d found once before. The darkness about him fled in a burst of light. He saw Rey up ahead. She stood with an older man. Kylo frowned. He thought they’d be alone. The world about him wavered but he refocused and pulled himself back towards her.

They turned to him. Kylo didn’t look at the old man. One glance was enough to tell Kylo he was Obi-Wan Kenobi. His uncle’s stories had been accurate. Instead his gaze locked with Rey’s. She was afraid.

“Ah, here he is,” Obi-Wan said. “He will help you now.”

“Grandfather, I’m afraid,” Rey said, stretching out a hand to touch his arm as if she was trying to keep him by her side. Kylo felt his heart lurch. Of course she was afraid. He’d all but killed her. Shame burned inside him, keeping him stuck in one place instead of going to her like he wanted.

Obi-Wan faded away leaving Rey standing alone on the edge of a cliff. She turned away from him, looking out towards the ocean. He could feel the wind blowing and hear the cry of winged creatures in the air. A memory came to him. This was the ocean and the island he’d seen in her head. She took a step towards the edge.

Kylo thrust his shame away and strode towards her. His feelings were getting in the way of what he needed to do. He could feel there was something about her that wasn’t right. She stood with her arms around her and her head bowed. He stopped behind her and touched her on the shoulder. She shuddered. He felt it, the darkness. It was still there. With a gentle pressure he turned her about to face him. There were tears in her eyes. Kylo’s gut clenched.

Rey looked down where she held her hand over the wound in her chest. There was a dark shadow under her hand. Kylo gasped. He reached down to move her hand away but she retreated, covering the darkness with both her hands. Fear stole into his mind, shaking him to the core.

“Please. Let me help,” he said. Rey shook her head.

“No-one can help. Snoke has done this. There’s a bond between me and you and he did this to try and break it.”

“No,” Kylo said. “I can help you. Obi-Wan said I can help you.” Kylo wouldn’t let her go. Not when everything had changed so much. He took one of her hands and as before she didn’t resist his grasp. He pressed her hand against his chest. He needed to feel her against him.

“Please, let me help you.”

“How?” Kylo took a breath and closed his eyes and reached for Rey’s light within him. He heard her gasp.

“No. No, you must keep it. I couldn’t bear it if you didn’t have that light in you anymore.”

“I couldn’t bear it if you died.” Rey looked up at him, her eyes pleading but he refused to let her go. Instead he took her other hand and held them both to his chest. He could feel the aching cold that was the wound as he pulled her against him. Snoke had left his poison behind when Kylo had severed his grip on her life.

“Let me help you,” he whispered in her ear. He felt her shudder and he tightened his arms about her. He held her as he reached down inside again for the light. He heard her whimper and sigh as it grew bright within him. She resisted at first. He waited, letting the light build, letting her know he wasn’t going to back down on this.

She softened against him, opening herself to the light. Almost of its own volition it filled and surrounded them both until it receded and settled back within Rey. She sucked in a shaky breath and buried her face against his chest. Kylo didn’t know how long they stood there but he refused to let her go until she pulled away. She took a small step back but he kept hold of her shoulders and her hands remained on his chest.

“I can’t stay,” Rey said.

“Don’t leave just yet,” he said. Rey looked up at him and he could feel her searching him. The problem was he was so messed up right now she wouldn’t find anything but confusion.

“Why do you want me to stay?”

Kylo knew the answer but he was afraid to say. He’d not allowed himself to feel what she asked for since the day he became Kylo Ren. He’d made himself the opposite of everything she needed. He bowed his head and said something else. It was true but it wasn’t everything.

“I need you.”

Rey wasn’t fooled. Her smile was a little sad, causing pain like a knife wound to slice into his chest.

“You don’t need me. Everything you need your family can give you.” He looked into her eyes, begging their soft hazel depths to listen to him.

“Not everything,” he said. He drew her close again, holding her. He wanted to kiss her but she was so perfect and he was still a monster, slaying his own, the Knights of Ren, anyone who got in his way, old friends, family.

Rey watched him, her eyes searching his. She started to push him away again.

“I don’t want to come back. There’s too much pain,” Rey said.

“No. Please. Don’t go. I need you. I...” He saw her eyes shine for a moment but as he faltered again so did the look in her eyes. She pulled away. He bowed his head, defeated.

Rey turned to go. He watched her. One last whisper escaped his lips before she left.

“I love you.”

Rey stopped and turned, looking up at him. His heart skipped a beat. Had she heard? He gazed down at her, taking in every perfect part of her, from the sparkle in her hazel eyes and the soft curve of her mouth to the way little wisps of her hair curled about her face.

“What did you say?”

Kylo was still afraid to say it but he made himself say it anyway.

“I love you.”

Now it was her turn to be afraid. She opened her mouth but no words came out. He knew why and he didn’t want her to say something that wasn’t true.

“You shouldn’t love me. Not this me. Maybe one day I can be the kind of man you can say it to but not yet.”

Rey breathed in and came close to him again. She leaned in and placed her forehead on his chest. Something hard and cold within him warmed and softened. He wrapped his arms around her, possessive, determined not to let her go until she came with him. She looked up at him, raising a very sweet eyebrow.

“You know, I really should say that stabbing a girl in the chest isn’t the best way to get her attention.” Kylo stopped breathing. No argument from him. “But I’m going to forgive you if you can forgive me for trying to kill you.”

Kylo laughed in spite of himself.

“I mean it Kylo. I was going to kill you. I…” she closed her eyes and shuddered. He pulled her close, letting her bury her face in his chest and wet his clothes with her tears.

He opened his mouth to say the words, that he forgave her everything, even though there was nothing to forgive as far as he was concerned but his words got stuck somewhere in his throat when she pulled back and smiled up at him. He saw again that time long ago that he’d forgotten until now, when he was a boy and he’d gazed down at her baby face, enchanted. He was still enchanted, under the spell that was Rey. It was her eyes, their warmth a healing glow for his soul yet they were livened by a spark that could flare into a blaze to burn him.

She reached up and slid her fingers into his hair behind his ear, pulling him down ‘til her mouth was so close to his he could feel the warmth of her breath on his lips. She stroked a finger along his scar and he nearly fell in a heap at her feet.

An agony of anticipation overtook him, wanting her but knowing she was too good for him. If he was any kind of man with a backbone he wouldn’t allow himself to blemish her goodness with his darkness.

Instead he was still that weak and foolish boy, unable to resist as she closed the gap between them. Her mouth was soft and sweet on his, causing him to tremble. He hauled her closer and kissed her like she was his last breath of life. She felt so good against him it made him dizzy with longing.

Then it all disappeared. He was still kneeling by her side, looking down at her pale face with his fingers against her temple. He nearly tumbled backwards, dazed to be on a badly lit street surrounded by voices and people hurrying about him. Someone had put the ring back on her finger.

“We have to go.”

There was a rising background noise. It wasn’t just the sound of the burning shipyards. He knew what it was. The roar and crash of weapons of war and running feet – the sound of approaching battle. He looked down at Rey where she still looked frail and breakable. Solia put a hand on his arm.

“She’s going to be fine. Whatever you did it worked.”

He gasped and shook, unable to express his thanks. Solia just smiled and put a hand on his shoulder.

“I don’t think I should call you deathwalker anymore,” she said. Kylo laughed in spite of himself.

A new sound came to him, voices joined in a deep, raw chanting.

_ZAINA SOLIA_

The words repeated over and over again. Kylo looked at the heretic. He could see her face pale even in the half light in the street.

“Get inside,” someone said.

“No. You’ll be trapped,” Luke said. “We can go in the Falcon. We’ll find a safe place for you.”

Kylo looked about. Chewbacca was already picking Rey up in his arms. Others were running towards the end of the square where the Falcon was parked. He looked at the Knights. All that were left were dead now. The last two having slipped away while he brought Rey back. It didn’t feel right to leave them behind.

Bodies burst through at the other end of the square. Stormtroopers were being pushed back by a stampede, in spite of the blaster fire they sent into the crowd. There was something primal in the feel of this crowd. A purpose that would not be denied. 

_ZAINA SOLIA._

Kylo felt the hair rise on the back of his neck. They were all in danger of a stampede. There was no time for the Knights. The others were already on their way to the Falcon. He looked at it. So many memories there. He’d faced them on Starkiller base when he’d entered the old freighter then. But now it was different. Now his father was gone and by his own hand. In spite of the moments he’d spent with him and his grandfather the pain of his needless death and the loss he still felt hadn’t gone away.

He was frozen. Chewbacca already had Rey whisked up the ramp. The others were following in behind. Even the ball droid, dragging something behind it, was almost there.

Kylo knew if he got on that ship his old life was over and he was in the stars, his future unknown.

_ZAINA SOLIA_

He looked about at the square and the troopers backing up beforre the mob. He looked back at the Falcon. He’d face anything if he could be with Rey. His legs began to move until he was running. The ramp was starting to close and he picked up speed. He leapt and landed on the ramp, rolling into the ship. He came to a stop looking up at his uncle. Kylo swallowed as Luke’s surprised face grew stern. Had he made the right decision?

“Please! Let me come back.”


	26. Chapter 26

The ship tilted as Poe looked for a place to land. He’d circled the city once scanning for the Falcon. The towering inferno that was the shipyards sent crazy shadow patterns across the landscape and interference through his scans. Poe didn’t want to be anywhere near it when he landed but he also wanted to keep track of the Falcon. He was pretty sure the Falcon was okay but a little too close to the inferno for comfort. He didn’t want to risk contacting Luke just yet though and tipping off the First Order.

“There’s a field outside the city away from the shipyards. You can contact the others from there,” Imri said over the comm.

Hux stepped up to Poe, looking down his nose at him. Poe raised an eyebrow.

“You’ll surrender this ship and its passengers, including yourself, to the First Order the moment you land,” Hux snapped.  

Poe knew he should just ignore the general but couldn’t help needling the uptight officer.

“Now why would I do that general when I’m having so much fun?”

“Fun,” Hux spat. “This is not fun you imbecilic piece of Resistance space dirt.”

“Whoa there general. You’ll blow a valve somewhere important if you keep that up.”

Hux face flushed pink. He stared out the front view window with his hands folded behind his back, his chin up and his back straight. Poe felt a surge of rage at the man who’d given the order to take out the Hosnian system. He willed it away for now though.

“It’s like old times isn’t it general.” Hux scowled but said nothing and kept looking out the front view window.

“Except this time you’re the captive,” Poe said. Hux turned to Poe, a sneer on his face.

“No such thing you fool. My Stormtroopers will have you the moment we land and this time I will personally see to it your execution orders are carried out.”

Imri’s voice crackled across the comm.

“Hey Poe, looks like all the ground assault troopers and their machines are heading back into the city. Some kind of riot. Should be nice and quiet north of the city by now.”

Poe grinned at Hux

“Thank you Imri. I’m heading down for a landing now.” Poe flicked off the comm. “Seems your Stormtroopers have more important things to do general. So as I was saying, you’re the captive this time.”

Poe was gratified to see the lump in Hux’ throat bob up and down and his forehead develop a slight sheen of perspiration as he stared defiantly out the front view window.

Poe ran a scan and found the perfect place to put down. Enough room for Imri’s ship and the Falcon to join them.

The landing was without incident. Poe was almost suspicious. Being night it was a little eerie landing in an unfamiliar place, especially given the low lying fog that wreathed the ground. Imri landed her ship a short distance away.

“Yaez, can your people secure our First Order guests. I don’t want anyone running off,” Poe said. Yaez and his Resistance took up positions surrounding the five individuals.

“I can call reinforcements,” Yaez said. Poe looked at the five captives. Only the general gave Poe the impression he wanted out. The rest appeared to acquiesce without even an argument.

“No I don’t think they’re going to cause too much trouble.”

He took his time going through the ship’s shutdown, continuing to take note of all their systems. He barely had the doors open and the ramp down though when an angry blue Twi'lek with a large blaster appeared at the entrance. She’d changed out of her borrowed clothes and now wore a sleeveless black and grey form fitting suit and a band around her head. Poe realized he was staring like a teenage boy and quickly shut his mouth. He swayed backwards a little when she flicked off the blaster safety and powered up the weapon.

“Where’s Hux,” she snarled. Poe stepped forward, his hands up to slow her down.

“Now wait a minute. I think we need to discuss a few things.” Imri scowled at him then stepped around him to advance on the general. The others parted promptly at her approach. Poe could see the general backing up towards the side of the ship furthest from the entrance.

“Imri, whatever issues you might have with this man, he’s my captive and under my protection until I decide what…”

She wasn’t listening. Poe reached over and shut down the last of the systems of the ship then dashed towards her. She turned to him and snarled and he backed up in spite of himself.

General Hux’ eyes grew wider as she got closer. When she was finally standing in front of him Poe almost had a heart attack when she aimed the gun at his head.

To Poe’s relief she didn’t shoot the general.

“Move,” she barked, pointing with the blaster. The general skittered to the side towards a console.

“Turn around.” To Poe’s amazement General Hux rushed to obey the diminutive Twi’lek. Imri reached over and hit a few keys on an input screen. A feminine computer generated voice emanated from above.

_Identification required_.

“Imri, what are you doing,” Poe said.

“State your name and serial number,” Imri snapped.

“I will do no such thing,” Hux said.

_Voice recognition accepted_.

“What,” Hux squeaked. Imri shoved the blaster into his back and he stumbled forward. A blue scan line appeared and slid over his face.

_Facial recognition accepted_.

Imri tapped a few more keys. Hux tried to push away from the console and run but froze when the blaster was shoved beneath his nose again.

_Ready for coded authorization_.

“Imri…”

She spun towards Poe, a large grin on her face. Poe felt his heart do something strange. For one bizarre moment he couldn’t figure out if she was more beautiful when she looked like she was out for blood or when she stood there with a smug grin on her face. Either way, the huge blaster added something feral to the tight suit, the scar on the bridge of her nose and uneven tails that…looked good.

“Just sorting out that last thing I nearly forgot.”

“What…” Poe flushed at the realization of how distracted he was.

“Just a little program that will help us get off this planet and into hyperspace without any First Order interference.” She glared at Hux. For his part, Hux looked a little dazed, like he was wondering why he was still alive, but then he went back to his straight backed stance with his hands behind his back, ignoring all he thought were beneath him, which was everyone.

“So, do you plan on hitching a ride with me back to the Republic or are you going to wait for your friends.”

Poe laughed, surprising himself with how nervous he sounded.

“Ah, well if I can contact Luke, I’ll find out.”

“You can get a secure line on my ship.”

“Excuse me, Sir.” The voice behind him had a nervous quiver to it. Poe turned around. It was the red-haired technician. She stepped forward and Poe waited for her to speak. She flicked a glance at Hux, who was glaring at her but then she straightened her back and raised her chin. If she had also folded her hands behind her back she would have looked like a female version of Hux. Fortunate for her she didn’t.

“I would like to…um. Can I…” she stopped and took a breath. Poe noticed her hands were shaking so he smiled and did his best to look welcoming. He must have tried too hard because she blushed. She breathed in and out and continued.

“I would like to join the Resistance. Can I come with you?” Poe felt his mouth drop open again, this time from outright astonishment. His was not the only jaw on the ground.

“Kari.” Hux’ shocked and angry voice cut through the burgeoning surprise. She rounded on him, her gaze turning savage and her fists clenched.

“My brother is dead, killed on Hosnian Prime and you were responsible. I’m going to do everything possible to stop you from doing the same to others.”

Hux paled and for the first time looked shaken.

“But surely you can see what needed to be done.”

“None of it _needed_ to be done Armitage.” Kari’s eyes seemed to blaze as she stepped closer to her cousin.

“You can stick your First Order and its reconditioning and its Supreme Leader where the sun don’t shine. I’d rather disorder than the death and destruction it dishes out.”

Hux stood there, his mouth hanging open in disbelief as she turned and strode towards Poe, standing just behind him.

“Oh that does it.” A different voice this time. Poe turned to see one of the Storm troopers reach up and remove her helmet, tossing it away. Poe pushed his surprise aside and folded his arms over his chest and smiled in a way he hoped was getting under the general’s skin. Hux glared death at him. Before he could respond one of the Storm troopers interrupted.

“I agree with the tech here.” The Storm trooper gestured towards Kari. “You can stick your reconditioning and your First Order. I’m joining the Resistance but I’m doing it for SR-486 and SR-310. They were in love and if they were in the Republic they would have been happy together raising a family.”

The Storm trooper crossed the deck to stand near Poe. The other Storm trooper tossed her helmet aside too and followed the first one.

“For SR-486 and SR-310. Although we called them Sing and King. I’d like to catch up with FN-2187 too.”

“We call him Finn,” Poe said. The Storm troopers looked at each then at Poe and nodded.

Hux’ face was so livid it was almost purple.

“You will do no such thing. Troopers, get back to your posts.”

“No. We’re leaving.” They stood behind Kari and glared at him. Hux’ jaw clenched and unclenched along with his fists.

“Captain Phasma. They’re your troopers. Make them return.”

Phasma turned to him at a leisurely pace. She removed her helmet to reveal her blonde hair and blue eyed visage. She looked unconcerned by the current developments.  

“General, as a woman on death row I find it difficult to carry out your orders and given that I seem to be surrounded by the Resistance I think it would be foolish for me to try.”

Hux stood there speechless, his face colour alternating from purple to red to white. He sagged against the console, putting a hand out to support himself.

“No don’t,” Imri yelled. Too late there was a beep under his hand where Hux had placed it.

_Authorization code accepted._

There was a second beep and a red light turned green.

Hux shrieked and lept away from the console. Imri whipped her blaster back into his face to stop him from running.

“You idiot, now we’ve only got ten minutes to get out of here.”

Everyone froze.

“That better not be some kind of self-destruct,” Poe said. Imri huffed.

“No it’s a forced shut down and re-calibration of all the Finalizer's weapon systems and Hux just beamed it up over the hyperlink. For the next ten minutes we can sail past it like it’s a piece of space junk and there’s not a thing they can do about it.”

There was no way Poe could stop the grin spreading across his face. He was in love with this woman.

“Then I guess we better get on with it.”

Yeaz stepped forward. “We’ll be seeing you round Commander but I presume you’ll want to take the general with you,” he said. Poe extended a hand and Yaez shook it.

“Thanks for everything and yes, I think the Resistance would love a visit from the general,” Poe said.

Hux’ mouth opened and closed. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

Imri laughed.

“I could imagine you in a Republic jail cell Hux. A pretty Imperial Officer in his snappy uniform. You’d be on everyone’s dance card.”

Hux paled and gasped. There was a chuckle from Phasma on the other side of the cabin. Hux glared at her.

“Don’t think they won’t put you in a jail cell too Captain,” Hux snapped.

“Actually,” Poe said. “I was going to say, Captain, if you wish to join the Resistance, here’s your chance.” The Captain laughed.

“I don’t think so Commander.” Poe shrugged and nodded to Yaez to take her into custody as well.

“Ah, just a minute. Captain,” Imri said. Poe and Phasma turned to her.

“I have another proposition you may be interested in.” Phasma crossed her arms and looked down at Imri.

“I’m listening.”

“Well. I seem to be short of a partner in my information acquisition and bounty hunting business. You seem like the perfect candidate for the position.”

Poe felt like a bucket of cold water had been tossed over him.

“What?”

Phasma unfolded her arms, a grin spreading across her face and began to laugh.

Imri coughed. “The offer stands for the next ten seconds if…”

“I want fifty-fifty split and I get to fly my ship,” Phasma said. Imri raised an eyebrow.

“That would be my ship but I’m prepared to offer a sixty-forty split. And if your piloting skills check out,” Imri made a non-committal wave with her hand. “After all, the modifications you made to it will come in very handy in this kind of business.”

“Hey wait a minute…” Poe began before he was cut off.

“Offer accepted,” Phasma said.

“Good. Our first bounty is standing right over there,” Imri said, pointing to Hux. The smile on Phasma’s face turned predatory before she slipped her helmet back on.

“Get away from me,” Hux cried. He looked about for a place to run but there was nowhere. He backed up as Phasma approached but only found Yeaz’ unyielding presence behind him.

“If you don’t mind,” Imri said, indicating with her blaster for Yaez to step back. He complied with a smile and waved a hand for her to continue.

“No,” Hux said in a despairing voice. Phasma reached down and pulled a button from his coat and tossed it on the floor.

“I don’t think you’ll need your personal locator anymore.” Hux swallowed and shuddered then whimpered as Phasma bent, shoved her shoulder into his gut, picked him up and tossed him up over her shoulder. He banged his fists on her armour down her back but soon found out it really was as hard as rumour said and stopped.

Poe just shook his head in amazement as he watched the red haired officer bob up and down against the chrome armour while the former captain toted him towards the newly requisitioned bounty hunter ship.

“We can negotiate a price on the way,” Imri said. Poe clenched his fists and scowled then let out a shaky breath when she smirked up at him and winked. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. General Organa was going to have her hands full now. And he was…well, bearing a somewhat wounded heart at the thought of Imri dumping the Resistance (and him, but he wasn’t going to admit that to himself) to go back to a shady life of danger and questionable legality. Not that being in the Resistance was much different.

 

 

Kylo knelt on his haunches in the passageway not far from the Falcon’s medical bay, watching everything that Solia and her father did to help Rey. They were hooking her arm up to tubes and bags and strapping her in for flight. He wanted to be by her side but knew he would be in the way. He could feel her force signature grow and reached out through the bond, letting her know he was still there.

Luke had only responded with a nod to his unexpected plea before he strode away towards the cockpit where Chewie was in the co-pilot seat. Kylo was risking a lot coming back to the Resistance with his uncle. If he wanted to leave Snoke and the First Order there were better ways to go. He looked across at Rey and felt a shiver run through him at the thought of her light filled presence no longer being there and knew this was where he needed to be.

Chewbacca had the Falcon in a low circuit until they contacted other members of their party. Kylo wasn’t taking much note of it all until Luke strode back from the cockpit, a determined look on his face. Kylo had seen it before and tensed.

“We have word there’s a gap allowing us to get past the Finalizer. All we need to look out for are the Tie Fighters. Sanjo, I need you in the second gunnery, I’ll take the first one.”

He looked at Kylo, his jaw flexing and his eyes narrowing. Kylo’s tension rose as he waited for him to make whatever decision he was making.

“I need you to fly the Falcon, Ben,” Luke said. Kylo sucked in a breath as electricity coursed through him. He looked around. He hadn’t flown this bucket for years and not very often back then either but it wouldn’t take much to reacquaint himself with it. He pushed himself to his feet but then had a thought.

“What about Chewie,” he said, realising he’d used the informal truncation of the Wookie’s name like he had in the past. He had a strange feeling as though his life in the First Oder was falling behind him like it had never happened.

“They’re still looking for us and we don’t have much time. He needs you so he can concentrate on getting us into hyperspace.” Kylo looked at his uncle. Was he trusting him with this or did he know more than Kylo did? Kylo looked at Rey, her face pale but no longer struggling for life. Kylo hadn’t chosen this course to let her fall back into Snoke’s hands. Besides, his memory of the Falcon was of a temperamental ship that broke down at less than convenient moments. They would need all the help they could get.

Kylo reached up and ripped off his cowl and surcoat. He didn’t want to be hampered by their extra weight while he flew the old bucket. He strode towards the cabin. His steps faltered momentarily as a vision of his father in the pilot’s chair came to him but he thrust it aside for now. He reached for the force, letting it flow as he slid into the seat.

Chewie huffed and Kylo could feel the hostility from him.

“I just want to get Rey away from Snoke,” Kylo said. Chewie huffed again and turned back to his task. Kylo took the pilot’s stick and lifted the Falcon towards space.

It wasn’t long before they had a tail, quickly followed by several others. Kylo dodged and banked, continuing his flight to the darkness of space. Luke and Sanjo hit several Tie’s with some excellent shooting. He noted another ship join the chase and nearly did a double take.

“Uncle Luke, we got bigger company. Phasma is on our tail.”

Chewie hit the comm and barked a greeting across space. Kylo’s eyes nearly popped but didn’t have time to ask questions as another bank of Tie fighters swept towards them. He sent the Falcon into a spiral as they shot up through the line, several Tie’s meeting their end due to Luke and Sanjo’s shooting. The Finalizer loomed ahead.

A response came across the comm.

“Chewie, tell Luke we got extra passengers.” Kylo stared for a moment. He’d heard that Twi’Lek’s voice before. Hux was not going to be happy. Another thing occurred to him.

“She stole Phasma’s ship.” He laughed.

“Who is this? Where is Luke?” Kylo’s jaw clenched. Poe Dameron. Someone he really didn’t want to deal with right now.

Chewie howled into the comm again.

“Yeah, ok. Fly now talk later,” Poe said.

Kylo was glad not to have to respond. Two Tie Fighters were bearing down on them from either side. He throttled it up and rolled to avoid their fire and shot between them. They avoided crashing but didn’t avoid Luke’s shooting. When one exploded it took the other one with it.

The other ship was close behind having performed a similar manoeuvre. Dameron must be at the helm. 

The Finalizer was still just sitting there.

“What’s it waiting for?” Chewie’s low yowl filled him in. Kylo nodded. Hux’ Twi’lek had finally turned against him and was taking it out in spades. He grinned.

“Are you sure the Republic is ready to have that little reprobate released on it.”

Chewie shrugged. Kylo shook his head. Back to the Republic and back to disorder. To be honest he hadn’t enjoyed his life this much for a long time. He thought about the planet below. Dastron it seemed was just a veneer of order. Always there was the disarray of life bubbling beneath waiting to break out when it had the chance. Every other world was the same. He’d let his own hurt and pride blind him to the truth of it.

There was another problem up ahead. The rest of the fleet were waiting for them in the outer reaches of the system.

“How long until you get the coordinates for the hyperdrive,” Kylo said. Chewie barked. Kylo felt his muscles tense and sought calm in the force. It was only seconds but a lot could happen in those few…

“Hold tight,” Luke yelled from the gunnery. The ship jerked and shuddered. They were hit a glancing blow by an out of control Tie fighter. Shields were down by twenty percent but still holding. A light began to flash and Kylo’s stomach dropped. It was the hyperdrive, of course.

He closed his eyes, touched the button and let his mind follow the line to the source of the problem. There it was. Just a short. An easy fix but he needed an astromech droid.

“Is that BB unit able to fix a short in the hyperdrive engine?” He heard a squeak and whistle then a whirr as the little ball droid zoomed away.

He looked ahead. They were getting too close to the rest of the fleet.

“We’re being herded,” he muttered.

“We’re ready to go into hyperspace,” the Twi’lek said across the comm.

“Tell them to go,” Luke yelled. Chewie relayed the message with a yowl. The ship distorted and then disappeared leaving the Falcon as the only target. Kylo doubled back towards the Finalizer. If the Twi’lek was right then he estimated they had about a minute left before it would be able to power up its weapons. He executed a tight bank over the nose of the hulking vessel that had always reminded him of a serpent’s head. He was tempted to give Hux a wave. Instead he accelerated down and away, achieving the distance from the rest of the fleet that he needed. That wasn’t going to be for long though as several destroyers were powering up engines and weapons and getting closer.  

He could feel it; the chase was getting narrower, closer to the end. They were herding, hemming him in. Even when they got hyperdrive capability back it might be too late. A voice across the comm. interrupted his thoughts.

“Light Correllian Freighter, this is the Finalizer. Power down your weapons and shields and come to a full stop.” Kylo ignored the order but recognised the voice. Mitaka. Where was Hux? Kylo was sorry to say goodbye to the Lieutenant. In spite of the way Kylo had abused him on more than one occasion, he was a good officer.

There was a shot across the bow from the Finalizer. They had their weapons back. More ships closed in. Kylo breathed and let the force flow. He spotted it, the break in ranks he needed. All he needed now was for…

The red light flashed green then disappeared. He hit the Falcon’s sub light engines and speared the Falcon through the gap. He banked and headed off at an angle to avoid the ships at the rear. Clear space opened up and he punched the hyperdrive.

The stars turned to streaks and then the galaxy became a whorl of light ahead of them. He leaned back in the seat sucking in a shaky breath. What the hell had he just done? Less than two days ago he’d left Snoke’s side, training complete, ready to fulfill any task Snoke gave him. Now he was running to Snoke’s enemies, a traitor of all he’d embraced through the Knights of Ren. 

For one person.

He slid from his seat and turned to the corridor where the med bay was. Solia sat by Rey’s side while her father had retreated to the main lounge. Luke and Sanjo had also emerged from the gunneries and were headed there as well.

“Master Luke. Did you see me? I know it was the force.” His uncle patted the boy on the shoulder.

“Yes Sanjo. You did well,” he said. Luke looked up and stopped when he saw Kylo.

“Thank you Ben,” he said. Kylo nodded but then looked away. The name still didn’t feel right to him. He wasn’t the mixed up kid trying and failing to make his way in a world that had gone mad. That boy had made the wrong choice and everyone had paid dearly for it.

At the same time, he couldn’t call himself Kylo Ren anymore. He’d turned away from Snoke and the Knights of Ren and was now adrift…except for one thing. The bond he had with Rey. He swallowed and turned towards the med bay and Rey. His uncle let him go.

Kylo knelt beside Rey and Solia backed away, her gaze wary but willing to let him stay.

“She’s stable for now. Once we get her to a full medical facility we’ll be able to restore all the vaporised tissues.” Kylo nodded. He picked up Rey’s free hand and held it to his chest, needing that connection.

“I don’t know how you did it but you missed just about everything vital. The burn injury to surrounding tissues was minimal. Some of my preparations will help remove the cauterized tissue. The liver and lungs will be easily regrown and the ribs they’ll just need a simple implant restoration. The muscles will take a bit longer but she could be walking about in less than a week if….”

She stopped. “I’m sorry. I’m rambling.” She backed away. “Call me if there’s any kind of change.”

“Thank you. For everything,” Kylo said. Solia looked down and half shrugged.

“You told me not to fail,” she said. Kylo felt a little surge of guilt.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…”

Rey moaned softly and Kylo turned back to her, the other woman forgotten.

“Rey.” He spoke her name like it was music on his lips. Her eyes fluttered and opened in a sleepy fashion. His heart skipped a beat and he leaned closer, holding her hand with both of his now, wanting to touch her but not daring to do anything more than hold her hand.

“Kylo,” she breathed his name and he shivered in delight in spite of himself. He pressed her hand to his lips again. Her eyes grew warm as she watched him and spoke in a voice not much more than a whisper.

“If you keep holding my hand and stealing kisses, I’m going to think you like me.”

Kylo bowed his head, a little embarrassed by his effusive display but refused to let go of her hand. He needed her. He loved her.

“I ‘ove y’ t’,” she breathed. His heart nearly stopped. What did she say? He looked to her eyes but they were closed. He squeezed her hand but he felt her drift away into peaceful sleep. He, on the other hand, was going to sit here on the floor next to the med bay in blissful agony holding her hand until she woke again.


	27. Chapter 27

Rey felt herself rise through the clouds into the light. She reached for the pearl bright sun that hung just above her. A hand soft and slender slipped into hers and held on tight. Rey looked up at her mother, her face smiling and laughing.

“I’m still here Rey. I’m not going anywhere.”

“I had a dream that you died,” she said. Her mother’s face creased and looked sad.

“Oh sweetheart, I’m not dead.”

Rey opened her eyes with a start. She was looking up at the aged ceiling of a spacecraft. The Falcon. She looked over to see a head of dark, thick, beautiful hair resting against the narrow bed where she lay. She was tempted to run her fingers through those locks except one arm was strung up with medical tubes and her other arm, or hand, was held captive by the sleeping owner of all that beautiful hair.

“He wouldn’t leave your side. I’m not sure how long he’s been asleep.”

Luke. She turned her head and looked up where he stood nearby, his smile a welcome greeting. She opened her mouth to apologise for the whole mess she’d gotten herself into but he cut her off.

“Don’t try to speak. You still have a bacta tube through your lung. ” She looked down and saw where she’d been bandaged up. A tube poked out from her chest at a strange angle. She blinked at it and sucked in a shaky breath. She could feel the resistance on that side of her chest but was still able to breathe freely enough and there was no pain.

“You’re also dosed up on one of Solia’s concoctions. She warned me that it can be unpredictable with the force sensitive,” Luke said, raising an eyebrow. “Whatever that means.” Rey’s face flushed. She could have sworn she saw a twinkle in his eye before he looked away and down at Ben. His gaze seemed to focus somewhere far away. 

“Ben tried to right what he thought were wrongs but he listened to the wrong people. Snoke played me, him, even his mother and father. I didn’t realise until it was too late how entrenched Snoke had become in his thinking. Snoke had been showing him the dark side of the force in subtle ways, influencing him. Then you came along and Snoke had to do something. He knew you could reach him in a way no-one else could so he got rid of you.”

Luke looked at her again. “It was Snoke that sent you to Jakku.” Rey shook her head. Luke frowned and titled his head.

“Snoke gave me to Unkar. He took me to Jakku.” Luke nodded. Was it possible that Snoke hadn’t known where she was; just that she was somewhere no-one could find her.

“I came to find you but you were already gone. Snoke was waiting for me.” Luke shook his head. “Snoke convinced them that I was killing off everyone who knew about my connection to Darth Vader, that I was ashamed of my father. By then the news was everywhere. Ben felt he couldn’t trust his own family. When Snoke attacked me and I cut him down it all went to hell. Ben chose to trust Snoke and his Knights of Ren. The first thing they destroyed was the academy. When I got there everything was gone. Those who refused to join Ben and the Knights of Ren were...” His voice faltered and he paused. He looked away as his jaw tensed but then he was calm again. “I left afterwards to look for you but it was like the Force itself didn’t want you found.”

“My grandfather said he allowed me to forget,” Rey said. Luke’s eyes widened for a moment then a wry grin flashed across his face.

“That old wizard always knew how to make the truth work for him. He put a block on Snoke getting into your head. It would have kept everyone out, even you. That’s why you couldn’t remember.” Luke shook his head and looked down at Kylo, or Ben, maybe that’s who she should call him now.

“So, it was Snoke who sent you away. It was Snoke who turned Ben into a monster.” Luke shook his head again. “That his family, including me, would lie to him and doubt him is what really tore him apart. Trouble is, now he’s done a great deal worse. There are many who won’t forgive. He will face the death penalty in the Republic. Maybe he deserves it but I can’t let it happen. I will do what I must to help him.” Luke looked down at her. His expression seemed masked somehow. She could feel that subtle block in the force he cultivated at times so she couldn’t figure out what he was thinking. She tensed but willed her worries away.

“You’ll need some recovery time at the Resistance base. There’s a lot for you to work through as well now that your memories are returning. I know you could benefit from some time spent with my sister and with Finn and the others. I won’t stay though,” he said.

“What...where are you...”

“Remember what I said about speaking,” Luke said. This time Rey did feel a slight twinge and her face twitched. Luke shook his head.

“By the look of it, whatever Solia gave you is wearing off quicker than it’s supposed to.” He watched her for a moment as Rey fidgeted, looking for a more comfortable position.

“I can call Solia to give you one of her pain killers.”

“Not yet. Luke where are you going,” Rey said. Luke looked at Ben.

“He left Snoke but there is still much of the dark side within him. I need to help him.”

“I can help him too,” she said, using the force to block the re-emerging pain in her chest. Luke shook his head, he smiled at her but it was too benign, raising her suspicions.

“Snoke may have been controlling your thoughts and actions on Dastron but the truth is you came closer to falling completely to the dark side than you realise. Both of you…need time.” Luke placed a hand on Ben’s shoulder but he didn’t wake.

“I’m going to take Ben to Ahch-To but I’m going to go there alone with him.”

Rey felt her pulse quicken and her body tense. She had dealt with separation and loneliness all her life so she should be used to it. The thought of Luke going away and taking Ben with him caused her to panic, more than she would have expected.

“No. Take me… with you,” she said, her chest now starting to cause her real pain.

“I’m only telling you this,” Luke said. Rey took a moment to take that in. If he was letting her in on his plans then perhaps he wasn’t abandoning her after all.

She lifted the tip of her finger and curled it into a dark lock of Ben’s hair without taking her hand out of his.

“He saved me,” she said. She winced at the expanding twinge of pain in her chest. Solia came back from the lounge area. 

“I think that’s enough talking for now,” Solia said and began working through the data panel managing all the tubes Rey was hooked up to. Luke stepped back, his gaze narrowing as he watched her.

“Rey, I need you to start training Sanjo. Just start him on the basics. If you have any trouble, talk to Leia. She’ll know what to do.”

There was a short hiss and a beep and Rey could almost feel the drug, whatever it was, flow into her.

‘No wait…” she murmured. She didn’t want to go back to sleep. Her hand gripped Ben’s tighter, hoping she could keep him, them, with her if she just held on. When she woke she knew they would be gone. She tried to fight the sedative Solia was giving her but it was not so easy to overcome as the compound in the dart Phasma had shot her with. She felt Luke’s hand on her shoulder and looked up.

“It’s not for long Rey. Just until you’re both on a firmer footing,” Luke said. She tried to fight the drifting feeling but soon she was sinking below the clouds again, her mother’s voice echoing in the distance.

 

Kylo woke with a start. He looked about, horrified with himself. How long had he been out? He had meant to keep watch over her until they got to…wherever they were going. They were still in hyperspace at least but for how long he didn’t know.

Her hand was still in his and she was still asleep. He crept a little closer and looked into her face. He’d hoped her sleep was peaceful but her face seemed to carry some sort of worry. He brushed his fingertips across her cheek and cupped her face with his hand. Whatever worry had been on her mind appeared to vanish, her face relaxing as the hint of a smile settled on her perfect lips. Kylo’s heart did a little flip as he watched her.

An alarm went off. Damn it. The proximity alarm. They were about to come out of hyperspace. He’d hoped they would have a bit more time. He knew he was supposed to go and strap in but he would challenge anyone who tried to make him take even a step away from her right now. No-one did.

His body rocked as the ship dropped into normal space. The broader feel of the galaxy returned and he let himself relax into the feel of life about him. One point of life in particular stood out. A maelstrom of emotions rose within him, overwhelming him.

He was going to see his mother.

He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to stop the trembling that gripped him. He longed to see her yet he was terrified of the moment she laid eyes on him. What would she think of him? What would she say to him? Only yesterday he would have vainly walked by her and refused to acknowledge her. Today he would kneel at her feet and accept whatever she had to say, if she had anything at all to say. He would deserve it if she refused to acknowledge him and walked on by.

Memories flooded back. Fun on Coruscant going to the theatre, arguments at home that somehow ended with him in the middle yelling at his father, being the last kid to be picked up from school only to find it was C-3PO instead of his mother, hugs before being sent away to camp again, angry words when she didn’t like his friends, the crushing sense of her disappointment when he’d gone behind her back.

He longed for the days when he was just an innocent kid before the force had intruded on his life. His mother had told him about the force and he’d been eager to learn. But then the trouble had started, the trouble with finding out that getting angry made the force easier to use. The trouble of realising he was the only one like him and that he frightened the other kids, adults and even his own parents. The trouble of finding that the only people who were like him and weren’t afraid of him were everything his family stood against.

Then there was the last day they had seen each other face to face. More years than he cared to remember had passed since he’d felt his mother’s touch. He’d been too angry at being sent away to give his mother a proper hug goodbye. Something he’d regretted almost since the day he’d stepped foot on the soil of his uncle’s academy.

Without thinking he lifted Rey’s hand to his lips and kissed the tips of her fingers then held the palm of her hand against his cheek. Her touch, even if she was asleep, had a calming effect on him.

Solia and her father, Mikalas, came down the corridor. A flash of irritation made him stiffen.

“What is it,” he said. His voice must have held more of that irritation than he’d hoped. They stopped; their gazes wary as they looked at him.

“We need to get her ready for transfer to the medical facilities at the base,” Mikalas said. He stepped forward with an apprehensive smile on his face. For a moment Kylo wasn’t inclined to move but realised they couldn’t do their work with him in the way. Right now, Rey needed them more than she needed him.

He felt a chill surround him as he let go her hand and stepped away. He felt his uncle’s presence behind him and went still.

“When we land I want you to go to the cockpit and stay there until I call you,” Luke said.

“Why?” The word was out before he could bite it back and it sounded more belligerent than he felt.

“I don’t want anyone else seeing you before your mother gets the chance to talk to you.”

Kylo swallowed then drew in a shaky breath. The last day they’d been together had been strained but since then his life had spiraled into the exact opposite of everything his mother had stood for, even to the point of the unforgivable. Guilt stabbed at his heart again and fear that she would hate him and reject him stole all joy at the thought of seeing his mother. The hardness against emotion and sentiment that he’d fostered over many years deserted him. His shoulders dropped and his stomach churned. A vast emptiness inside him expanded and contracted, leaving him a different shape within. He’d hurt his mother beyond compare and the thought of it was a knife in his gut, twisting and slashing at everything inside him. He struggled to calm himself, even with the force. He was a man now, not a petulant boy. He would not treat his mother to another Ben Solo style display.  

Kylo looked at Rey and thought about ignoring his uncle’s command for a moment but knew it would be better than the riot his appearance would create. His mother didn’t need others to witness what her son had become. He’d stay back for now until they landed and they decided what to do with him. He still wanted to keep Rey in his sites until she was moved to a proper medical facility, although what Solia and her father had done for her already was amazing. A lightsabre wound of that magnitude should not be survivable. He would find a way to repay them.

He caught site of the boy Luke had brought with him, Sanjo. He watched him for a moment and could see what his uncle saw. He was strong with the force, almost as much as Rey. He hoped Sanjo would become a true Jedi like he knew Rey would one day be. His gaze drifted back to where Rey lay sleeping while Solia checked the bacta tube through her chest. He crouched down with his back against the wall while Chewie piloted the Falcon through the atmosphere towards the Resistance base.

Rey made a sound and he shot up on his feet to go to her.

“It’s alright, the sedation is wearing off again. Rey must be incredibly force sensitive. This stuff would put a normal person out for days.” Solia tapped the data console again and there was a hiss and a beep.

“Remember what I said,” his uncle murmured behind him. Kylo jumped. “I have spoken to them about you so they won’t say anything for now.” Kylo looked down at his uncle. He was being too reassuring. Too damn nice.

“What’s going on?”

His uncle looked up at him and scowled.

“I’m trying to manage the return of my nephew without inciting a lynch mob.”

Kylo felt a flicker of fear and swallowed. Except for Rey, he was used to others being in danger from him not the other way around. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling.

“Thank you,” he said. The surprise in his uncle’s face bugged him. “What,” he muttered. His uncle shook his head, a smile lurking about his mouth that needled at his pride. Kylo huffed and turned back to Rey.

Everything was set and the Falcon glided into the base under Chewie’s smooth hand that made as few bumps as possible for Rey. Kylo was glad. He’d savage anyone who was even the least bit offhand in her treatment. When the Falcon set down the ramp was already being lowered.

“Come on,” Luke said. Kylo knew he’d agreed to go but he didn’t budge at first.

“Ben,” his uncle said. Kylo forced himself to step back, away from the entrance. He didn’t want to leave her so he backed up until he could go no further without losing sight of her. Chewie and the others gathered around her to help. The Wookie was still mostly ignoring him.

“Ben,” his uncle said again. Kylo clenched his fists. He knew this separation was only until Rey was settled in medical and he’d spoken to his mother. If he could he would bargain to have them contain him in the medical ward with her.

He knew he was being obsessive but couldn’t stop himself. He’d hurt Rey and yet somehow she still cared for him. His heart belonged to her even if it wasn’t returned in the same way. He didn’t deserve her love or even her regard.

His uncle’s hand on his shoulder was the final reminder and he turned to enter the empty cockpit. He could hear the boots of the medical team on the ramp and did his best to stay out of site until the Falcon was empty of all but his uncle and himself.

For the first time he looked out the window on the Resistance base. It was a barren place surrounded by rocky outcrops and stunted arid-zone plants. The Falcon was parked at the end of a landing area, some distance from what looked like a main bunker entrance. Between the Falcon and the bunker was Phasma’s ship…and it was surrounded by well-armed troops.

“What’s going on there,” Kylo said.

“Ah, I forgot. When Poe said he had extra passengers apparently that included several defectors from the First Order and one captive. A certain General Hux I believe,” his uncle said.

Kylo felt his mouth drop open.

“Hux!” Kylo couldn’t believe it. It explained a couple of things he’d noticed in their flight out of Dastron though. He shook his head.

“How the hell…”

“He walked into it,” Luke said. “A certain Captain Phasma also had a hand in it, who somehow now seems to be the bounty hunter partner of one Imri Hallomy.”

Kylo just stared in disbelief. The Captain had done it. A chuckle rose up from within him that he couldn’t suppress. From one day to the next and the whole world seemed to have turned upside down.

He caught site of Rey lying on a medical transport and fell silent, watching her as she was wheeled towards the bunker. A man he recognised ran from the crowd around Phasma’s ship and up to her side. Poe Dameron. Poe took her hand and Kylo felt an ugly flare of jealousy burn within him.

“Careful Ben,” Luke said. “Your emotions are not your friend there.” Kylo bowed his head for a moment. Poe probably knew her better than he did. They would be friends…or more perhaps. No. He wasn’t going to think about that.

He heard footsteps on the ramp, quick and purposeful. Kylo quivered and put his arms around himself, his shoulders hunching forward as he looked down. It was her. He’d been distracted with Rey but now her presence swathed him. He was tempted to delve a little deeper and feel what she was feeling but knew she would take it as an invasion of privacy so he backed off. He froze, unsure of what to do or what to say. His uncle’s hand was on his shoulder again.

“Luke,” her call was tentative, as though she was unsure about being here. Kylo shook his head. She shouldn’t be the one who was uncertain. He was the one who was asking forgiveness, not her. He turned and found her just outside the cockpit door. She stood still and just looked at him. For a moment her gaze settled on his face, a tiny gasp followed by an unconscious hand that rose to the place on her face where the scar on his face was. It reminded him this was the first time she’d seen his face for a very long time and it was changed.

She had changed too. She was older, greyer, more bowed by life. Yet she seemed stronger than ever.

Kylo wanted to just throw his arms around her but like an idiot he just stood there, afraid of what she would say to him.

Her gaze was locked with his, there were unshed tears in her eyes and her bottom lip shook just a little. He died a little bit more inside knowing he was the one responsible for her pain. She dropped something to the ground, a bag of some sort. He didn’t take much notice. He was shaking so much he hugged himself tighter to stop it from bringing him to his knees. She came closer and reached out a hand.

“Ben,” she said and he remembered the softness of her from when he was a boy. He could reach out to her if he wanted but he held back, considering himself unworthy of her love. There should have been nothing to stop him from going to his mother. No grand destiny. No Supreme Leader or his expectations. He was free to simply fold his mother in his arms and hug her like a son should.

Except for one thing. His father.

He pulled back and stepped away. Pain filled his mother’s eyes and she lowered her hand. He wanted to comfort her but he was too ashamed to do anything but remain where he was.

Just because he’d reconciled with his father while he was in the force with grandfather didn’t mean his mother was on the same page. He forced his voice past the lump in his throat. It came out as a choked whisper.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“So am I,” she said. Kylo frowned and shook his head.

“Mother, what have you got to be sorry about?”

She was silent, watching him as though she were working through something in her mind. When she spoke her voice was raw.

“I wasn’t there for you.”

He knew it was true but it wasn’t the whole truth. If there was any fault on her part it was greater on his part. He started to shake. 

“It’s not an excuse for what I did,” he said. She went still and his arms, still locked about himself, loosened, guilt crushing in on him.

“You should hate me,” he said. She looked up at him.

“Ben, no. I…I can’t do that. I wish none of it had happened but I can’t change it now for you or me and I need my son.” Her last words shook as tears spilled over and down her cheeks. Ben was frozen with guilt and shame that his mother would still love her husband’s murderer. She continued, her voice becoming harsh.

“I know it was Snoke who made you do it. I blame him for all of this.” Now he could hear the bitterness she held inside. He couldn’t let go of his guilt though. Whatever Snoke had done or said Kylo had been complicit in it.  

“I brought some stuff for him. I hope it all fits.” She looked up at him. “You don’t seem to have filled out much since…” She shook her head and reached out and put a hand on his arm. Kylo shuddered from another memory that he’d done his best to lock away, a memory of rain and dead bodies.

“I wish you could stay longer but I won’t let them have you.” Kylo looked down at his mother then, confused by her words.

“What are you talking about?” She squeezed his arm, her eyes sad and fierce all at once.

“You have to go Ben. I won’t let them use you for their bloody politics. They’ve got Hux. He deserves what’s coming.”

“What are you saying? I’m not going anywhere. I’ve got to stay here and make sure Rey is okay. I need to make up for what I’ve done.”

His mother shook her head.

“You won’t get the chance Ben. They still want blood. The Republic is still in flux. Good people are gone and that’s allowed the unscrupulous looking for power in the door.”

Ben couldn’t believe what he was hearing. There was a ringing in his ears and the feeling that he’d been slammed in the chest. He looked at the bag she’d dropped. It was an old one of his that he recognised.

“You’re sending me away again because of politics.” His mother made a sound something like a choked sob. He wanted to hold her but was too frozen to move. That old creeping pain of abandon threatened to reach up and choke him, infuriate him.

“I know it’s not fair Ben but neither is letting them execute you without a fair trial and with the way things are you won’t be getting that.”

Ben was numb. He couldn’t leave. He needed her. He needed Rey.

“No.” The word was harsher than he intended. His mother looked up at him, wariness in her eyes. Her hesitation ripped at him like nothing else. He tried to calm himself.

“No. I won’t be sent away.”

Her look grew sharp.

“I’m not sending you away. I’m saving your life.”

“Ben,” his uncle said. “You’re coming with me. I know this isn’t what you had in mind but I can’t let you be sacrificed without a second chance.” Ben turned on him.

“A second chance…I…what…” His mind was in turmoil and he couldn’t get the words out. A second chance, it was exactly what he needed and wanted but right now it felt like he was a teenager again being punished for his misdeeds.

“What about Rey?” he demanded.

“She’s being taken care of.”

“What about when she wakes up,” he said. His uncle and his mother looked at each other.

“She’ll want to know where I am,” he argued.

“She already knows where you’ll be,” his uncle said. He spun about.

“What’s that supposed to mean.” His uncle shook his head.

“It means everyone who needs to know, knows and we’re getting out of here before…”

“No.” Kylo snapped. He pushed past his mother and headed for the exit.

“Ben, no. Wait,” she said. He wasn’t listening as he stormed for the ramp.

Just as he got to the exit footsteps camp up the ramp.

“General, are you there. We need you in…”

Ben froze. Poe Dameron. They stared at each other in shock for a heart-beat…maybe two. Kylo thought he’d gone inside with Rey. What was he doing out here?

This wasn’t going to go down well. He didn’t need the force for that or even the feeling in his gut. Their last meeting was all he needed as a guide on how Poe was going to react at seeing him. The problem was that their last meeting was everything Kylo couldn’t be this time. He couldn’t be the mindless tyrant bent on taking what he wanted for no better reason than some empty destiny. Kylo breathed and calmed himself.

“You,” Poe growled. “I knew there was something about that voice I heard before.”

Poe had a blaster pistol in his hand and was pointing it at Ben’s chest.

“You know that’s not going to work,” Ben said raising a hand. Poe hissed and holstered the pistol.

“Fine,” he snarled and charged. Ben tensed in readiness for the blow but gave way when the other man shoved him against the wall. Poe slammed a fist into his stomach and he couldn’t help caving a little, bringing his face down to just the level Poe needed to smack his fist into his jaw. Ben hadn’t been cracked in the jaw like that since…since he couldn’t remember. The sting of his lip and the metallic taste of blood made his stomach clench. And the look on Poe’s face said he wasn’t finished yet. 

“Commander Dameron. Stand down.” His mother’s voice cracked through the air. Poe ignored her and belted Ben a second time on the other side of his jaw. His head snapped back and cracked against the wall, causing stars to float before his vision.

“Poe. Stop.” It was all Ben could do to keep a tight hold on himself and his reflexes telling him to use the force.

“Fight you piece of space dirt,” Poe bellowed. Ben refused to fight back, knowing full well he wouldn’t be able to stop himself reaching for the power of the dark side if he did. He wouldn’t do that here, now, in front of his mother.

“Poe. Enough.” It was Uncle Luke saying it this time. Ben felt the gentle pressure of the force with his words. Poe straightened and his fists lowered. He blinked then glared at Luke.

“Poe. I know you hate my son but please, listen to me.” Poe turned to his mother, breathing hard, his hands still balled into fists, blood on his knuckles. Ben’s whole face stung and ached and his head felt like Poe was still laying into him.

“Why isn’t he in custody?”

His mother grimaced.

“Phasma and her troopers aren’t the only ones leaving the First Order today.”

Poe’s mouth fell open. He snapped his mouth shut again, a snarl forming on his lips.

“General, with all due respect, your son is a war criminal. I can’t let this go.”

“I know.” His mother raised a pistol that she’d had somewhere in her clothes and pointed it at Poe.

“General, what is this?” Poe was shocked. Ben was shocked. Hell, even Uncle Luke looked askance at his sister. Ben looked down at the improbable sight of the pistol in his mother’s hand. He looked a little closer. That chip at the bottom of the hand grip and that scratch on the muzzle. He closed his mouth as he realised he’d seen that _pistol_ before.

“I’m sorry Poe but if I point this at you then you can say I threatened your life and then you won’t get into trouble when you let him go.”

 “General…I…” Poe’s mouth opened and closed and then he just stood there. He looked at Ben then back his mother. Ben could see and feel him give in. Poe looked down and shook his head, muttering something under his breath.

“I’ll get the Falcon ready for take-off,” Luke said and headed back to the cockpit.

“Poe. I think our presence is required for General Hux’ official arrest and incarceration,” his mother said.

Poe looked up at Ben and pointed an accusing finger at him.

“Only because you’re her son,” he said and turned and walked towards the exit. He stopped at the exit and turned to look at Ben again, his eyes narrowing and his jaw flexing.

“Just because you let me have a few free hits doesn’t mean we’re even. Not by a long shot.”

Ben nodded. He wasn’t expecting any more forgiveness. His mother exhaled then lowered the pistol. Ben didn’t know what to say. It seemed to be a day for doing crazy stuff. She’d just threatened to kill one of her best people. She muttered something under her breath that may have included the words ‘Bantha poodoo’ and being ‘in’ it.

She turned to Ben and wrapped her arms around him, holding him tight. He hesitated for a moment then gave in and wrapped his arms around her and held her tight as well. There were so many things he wanted to say but they all seemed to get stuck in his throat.

The only thing that came out in the end was something he hadn’t expected to say.

“Mum, did you just threaten Poe’s life with my toy replica pistol that dad gave me for my ninth birthday.”

She froze. Ben waited, not sure what her reaction would be. He felt a wave of grief come off her and she buried her face in his chest. Her broken words nearly sent him to his knees.

“Why Ben? Why? Why did you do it?”

Ben’s heart stopped and pain sliced into his chest. He knew what she meant and of all the reasons he had, not one of them was good enough.

 


	28. Chapter 28

After so many years it felt like a dream to Ben that his mother would even talk to him, let alone put her arms around him. He was not the son she deserved. He knew he had to say something. He owed her that. He owed her more than that. In the end he couldn’t find a reason so he just talked. Words came out that he’d never thought about before but knew were true as he spoke them.

“Snoke’s had me in his hand for so long. I don’t know who I am anymore.” She was quiet, still.

“I was always failing him in some way. He convinced me it would prove my loyalty and set me free of the light.” He was quiet, wondering why it had all seemed so important. He tried to think when it stopped being important, when the change had started. It was her.

“Rey was like this meteorite slamming into my life and knocking me off course.” He shook his head and laughed. “And my grandfather was waiting.”

His mother pulled back and looked up at him, confusion in her face.

“Darth Vader.”

Ben shook his head and thought of the man who’d spoken to him in the Force and what he’d said.

“No. Darth Vader is dead. I mean Anakin Skywalker.” His mother stared up at him with an open mouth. Ben saw it in her eyes, a kind of hope but it was like she couldn’t quite trust it.

“Dad was there with him mum. My grandfather said he’d done something with the balance of the force and dad was there with him. I spoke to him. I…mum, I know he loved you. They both do.”

“Ben, what are you saying?”

He shook his head and took a breath before the words came tumbling out.

“Snoke punished me and nearly killed me because I wouldn’t let go of the light Rey gave me but then they were there, in the Force. No wait, my grandfather said he’d brought me to the force. Dad was there with him and we talked…and…and he told me about how Snoke had lied and then dad said he still loved me and…” He stopped when he saw the bewildered look on his mother’s face.

“I’m sorry. It all sounds crazy but…it’s true. Dad was there in the force with grandfather, with Anakin Skywalker.” Tears were spilling down his mother’s face.

“Are you saying your father…he made it to the force.”

“Yes.”

Hope blazed in his mother’s eyes.

“It’s true then. What he said was true.”

“What do you mean?”

She shook her head then smiled and squeezed him tight again.

“Thank you Ben. You don’t know what that means to me?” Ben felt something in his heart he hadn’t felt for a long time. A tiny glow of pride that he’d gotten something right for someone who mattered to him, someone he loved.

His mother let him go and stepped back, her hands still gripping his arms. She looked up at him, her eyes softening and her smile a little wobbly. He thought she might cry and he didn’t want her to feel sad but then the mother he knew was there, the one with fierce determination in her eyes.

“I’m so happy your home Ben but it’s not safe for you here. I love you more than anything. I can’t lose you again. Please go with your uncle now. Please. I’ll come as soon as I can. I promise.”

Ben had heard her make promises before and he knew she meant it. In the past he’d dismissed them as empty, knowing something would always intervene and she would chose whatever important thing it was over him. He’d seen what she was up against now and he knew she was right.

Her eyebrows drew together and she looked closer at his face. She lifted a hand and touched the places where Poe had hit him. They both winced when he pulled away.

“Except you’re not going anywhere until I fix that.” She led him to the med unit and began rifling through the supplies for bacta patches and sprays. He let her take care of him, even though he didn’t deserve it. If it kept her close to him just a bit longer then he didn’t mind. By the time she was finished the thrum of the Falcon had grown louder. His uncle was there again.

“We need to go.”

Ben took his mother’s hands to stop her from fussing over him. He folded her into his chest again and held her tight. A guilty little dagger in his back told him he didn’t deserve this but he was too selfish to let her go just yet. A sob wracked her body and he waited for her to compose herself before he let her go. When they stepped apart she backed away towards the exit. She stopped and looked at him.

“I love you Ben,” she said. His heart swelled as he watched her. He said what they always used to say to each other.

“I know.” She smiled and turned to walk down the ramp.

“Mum.” She stopped and turned back again.

 “Tell Rey…” he took a steadying breath. He didn’t know what his mother would think about what he was about to say but he couldn’t leave without saying it.

“Tell Rey I love her,” he said. She raised an eyebrow. He felt a flush of heat wash across his face. He knew he had so little to go on with Rey but he couldn’t deny how he felt about her. She nodded. He wasn’t sure if it was in approval or if she was just agreeing to pass on the message.

She stood there for a moment longer just staring at him as if she’d lost the will to leave. He couldn’t move. She turned and with quick steps went down the ramp, as though she might change her mind if she didn’t go now.

He wished she would change her mind and come with them but then he needed her to stay with Rey. He hit the door close but he watched her until he couldn’t see her any more. He made his way to the cockpit. He placed a hand on the clear shield as his uncle piloted the ship out of the base. When he couldn’t see her any more he sat down in the pilot’s seat.

He looked at his uncle.

“Where are we going?”

He shook his head.

“You’ll see.”

Ben groaned. He hated it when his uncle got mysterious.

“You’ve changed,” his uncle said.

Ben frowned.

“What do you mean?”

“Poe.”

“Oh,” was all he said.

“You could have…”

“Yeah.” He could have done a million things to Poe and had done to others who had done stuff trivial by comparison. He cringed at the thought of Mitaka’s frightened face. He didn’t blame Poe. Ben deserved worse for the what he’d done because of his screwed up idea of destiny. There were so many messed up things about thinking it was his destiny to rule the lesser beings of the galaxy. Snoke had accused him of having compassion. How could he not since this was what he’d been taught since he was young. His mother had taught him that to rule required compassion. His uncle had taught him to have compassion for all life. He thought of his father. Snoke’s accusations of compassion and sentiment had been goads in his side that day. Destiny was a cruel task master. If it was his destiny now to be beat up by an enraged Resistance pilot then so be it.

“I think we both needed it,” he said. He touched his jaw where his mother had sprayed the spreading bruise with bacta fluid. Snoke may have knocked him off the very pedestal he’d put him on but Poe had made sure he didn’t try and climb back up again.

He realised something. He’d stopped thinking of himself as Kylo and started thinking of himself as Ben again and it was that moment when he’d chosen not to use the force, at all, against Poe, in front of his mother. The crazy thing was that he’d worked hard to become Kylo Ren and leave himself behind. Now it seemed he never really had.

His uncle shook his head. Ben looked about the cockpit and began flicking switches and took over the piloting while his uncle entered the coordinates for hyperspace.

His mind drifted back to his mother and to Rey. He hated leaving them behind but it seemed he had no choice. Poe’s reaction to him being there would only be the start and he wasn’t free of the dark side yet. He could feel it lurking, waiting to pounce. He would only end up in conflict again with those he loved and he didn’t want that anymore.

He thought of Rey. In the past six months he’d tried so hard to keep her from his mind or to only think of her as an enemy. It was pure indulgence to let himself even picture her smile let alone… he closed his eyes and shivered at the memory of her lips against his. If he couldn’t be with her then at least he had that. The memory of her face when he’d plunged the lightsabre through her flashed into his mind in glaring detail. He tensed and gasped. It didn’t matter if it was the only way to save her from Snoke. It still felt wrong. He took a calming breath. His uncle was right to take him away, away from her so she could heal, so he couldn’t hurt her again.

 

 

Poe strode back and forth across the hangar from his X-wing to the blast door, ignoring BB-8’s worried whistle. He seesawed from rage at having let Kylo Ren go to gnawing guilt about the same thing. He never would have thought the General would have done such a thing…but then he was her son and if she was right and he’d left the First Order then…

He ripped both hands through his hair. At least he had the satisfaction of smashing the guy in the face, although he knew he was a complete loon for attacking the man. For crying out loud his lightsabre had been hanging right there on his belt. His heart raced in his chest and he felt a clammy sheen on his hands. He should be spit roast by now…except he wasn’t…except Kylo Ruddy Ren was now sporting a bruise – or two – from Poe’s own fists. Surely that wasn’t going to go down well. Damnit, if Ren came after him he’d have a go at him again, even if it was the last thing he ever did.

The Falcon roared overhead.

Kylo Ren was gone. The blood ran from Poe’s face. He’d just helped a war criminal escape. Damn the General, why did he have to get involved in this? Kylo Ren should be behind bars with Hux being interrogated and awaiting execution. Instead he was with Luke Skywalker…who was probably the only person who could really handle the guy…and where the hell were they going.

Poe stopped. Was Skywalker going to dish out some kind of Jedi justice to Kylo Ren? From what he’d heard there was supposed to be a lot of bad blood between them. Things had seemed tense when he’d walked in on their reunion before.

He spotted the General. She was walking towards the bunker entrance deep in thought. She stopped and put her hand over her mouth for a moment and closed her eyes. He couldn’t help feeling sorry for her. Her personal life was a nightmare. Even so, he couldn’t let this go. He clenched his fists and took a deep breath.

“General”

She jumped and he felt bad for startling her. When she turned to him her face held no pretence, she just waited. Poe knew he had to put his feelings aside.

“General. I can’t let this go.” Her face grew sad and her shoulders took on a defeated hunch.

“I know. You’ll do what you have to.”

Poe groaned inwardly as guilt grabbed him in its jaws and crushed his resolve. Damn.

“Kylo Ren was here and we let him go. The Republic senate will see that as treason. It’s aiding and abetting a known criminal. They’ll put you in prison.” He ran a hand through his hair again. “And me in the cell next door.”

“I’m sorry Poe. I know it’s too much to ask. You have to tell them. I’ll be fine but you have to do what you need to do.”

Poe kicked an errant stone on the duracrete floor. He shook his head. How could he do this? The Resistance needed her.

“I can’t believe you threatened me with a blaster pistol.”

“Oh. Yes, about that.” She pulled out the pistol and looked at it. “It’s not real.” Poe did a double take.

“What.”

“You’ll have to forgive a mother who still keeps her son’s stuff around just in case. I found it when I was packing a bag for him.”

Poe stared at the pistol. If it wasn’t so ludicrous he’d be mad. He pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger and groaned. She continued.

“I’m getting a bit sentimental in my old age Poe. Han gave it to Ben for his birthday when we visited Bespin. They had so much fun playing smugglers together.” She smiled but then the smile disappeared and she sighed. “Of course I had to ruin it by saying I didn’t want my son to grow up as a smuggler. We argued and Ben was always so protective of me…” She looked up at him.

“I’m sorry. You don’t want to know all of this.” That was true. Poe wished she hadn’t told him. Now he couldn’t stop thinking of Kylo Ren as her son and a human being. Damn. Ren had let Poe beat him up, hadn’t even defended himself and now he could imagine him as a kid. Next he’d be thinking of him as Ben Solo.

One more thing occurred to him.

“Do you know where they went?” She shook her head.

“No. Luke was adamant about not telling me.”

Poe thought of every curse word he could. He wasn’t going to say any of them in front of the General but at least he could think them. He looked at her sad face. He was going to regret this but he couldn’t do it to her.

“I won’t say anything.”

She blinked, her mouth opening and closing.

“But…”

“There’s no point. He’s gone and we’d end up in a cell each for nothing.” She looked down.

“Thank you Poe,” she said. Her voice shook a little and Poe felt his heart contract. He’d do anything to help her.

“I wasn’t looking forward to Admiral Thorceline’s gloating face when he found out.”

Poe grimaced in disgust. Thorceline was a Centrist who wanted to oust General Organa and return the Resistance back into the fold of the New Republic Military, what there was left of it.

“He’s not going to find out.”

“I hope not. He’s coming here for secret talks on the way forward for the defence of the Republic. I’m hoping we can offload Hux into his custody at the same time.”

Poe felt the hair on the back of his neck rise up.

“He’s coming here.”

“I wasn’t going to go to the Republic. You know I’d never come back. There’d be some kind of accident or similar.” Poe shuddered at the thought.

“What do you think he really wants,” Poe said.

“To assess our capabilities, no doubt, and whether we’re a threat to his plans. I have no intention of letting him see any more than I want him to see. When he gets here we should look like we never made it out of the Rebel Alliance.”

They walked back to the bunker in silence. Neither of them noticed the shadowy figure behind Poe’s X-wing or the low voice speaking into a personal communicator as it moved off in a different direction.

Poe’s thoughts turned to Finn and Rey in the Medical Unit. As soon as they had dealt with Hux, Poe would go and see how they were both doing. He didn’t know all the details but Finn had some kind of complication with his blood isotopes and Rey had suffered a near fatal lightsabre wound. No-one would say much about what happened to Rey except that Snoke and the Knights of Ren had turned up and it all went bad from there. Poe had a sneaking suspicion Kylo Ren had something to do with it. It didn’t add up though with the way the others were being so damn protective of him. Just because he’d ditched the First Order, and not taken the chance to get a hit in earlier, didn’t mean he could be trusted. Poe sighed, he had to let that one go for now but if he found out Ren did have something to do with what happened to Rey…he told himself to let it go…for now.

He followed the General into the main entrance of the bunker and through to the staging area. A lone black uniformed figure with ginger hair stood amid a phalanx of armed resistance fighters. General Hux looked about in disapproval of his company, ignoring even Admirals Statura and Akbar. Poe couldn’t quite hold back a smile as the severe look on his face was just a little undermined by the creases and rumples he’d received at the hands of his former chrome clad officer.

When General Organa approached him he turned and looked down his nose at her. It seemed to Poe that arrogant, upstart power was meeting the unphased experience of long held authority and was being measured for its inadequacy.

“General,” Hux sneered.

“General,” Organa ground back. They stared at each other for a moment. Poe smothered a grin when Hux was the first one to look away. Hux covered by sniffing at his surrounds.

“I see the Resistance is yet to discover the power of a professional and well-appointed work environment,” he said. General Organa folded her arms across her chest and smiled. Her preparations for Thorceline were obviously going as planned.

“Oh yes, it was very unprofessional of the Resistance to blow up Starkiller and all your fancy new ships and then take you prisoner. I don’t know how we managed it with such a lack of expense on décor.”

There was more than one snigger around the room as Hux’ face turned red. He sniffed again and stuck his chin out, staring at a spot above General Organa’s head. She rolled her eyes and waved for Admiral Statura to carry on with proceedings.

“General Armitage Hux of the First Order, I am placing you under arrest for war crimes against the Republic. If you follow me I will show you where you can sign your papers of rights and confessions.” The Admiral indicated with his hand for Hux to sit at a table set up to one side of the room. Hux lip curled.

“You want me to sign something that probably isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.” A smug grin . “If it’s even made of paper.”

Statura smiled.

“You don’t have to sign of course but you would waive your rights to fair treatment by doing so.”

Hux looked about at the hostile stares of the well-armed Resistance fighters. His face paled a little as though he’d finally wondered what might become of him if he was left to their whims. He swallowed as his hands began to shake. He clenched his fists and then turned and marched towards the table. Someone pulled out the chair with a malicious grin and he tentatively sat down.

Two sheets of paper, real paper, were shoved across the table at him with a pen. He looked at them for a moment as though wondering what he was supposed to do with them. He took a breath and began to read. The room was silent save for the occasional fidget or distant sound of activity. When Hux finally picked up the pen and scrawled across the bottom of the second sheet of paper the room began to buzz.

“Thank you General,” Statura said. He turned to nearby officers. “Please take the prisoner to his cell.”

Poe was happy to simply watch as Hux was cuffed and shuffled back across the room. Hux gave him a venomous look.

“I’ll remember this,” he said.

“You do that General and make note of the civilised treatment you received at the hands of the Resistance.”

Poe turned to head towards the medical unit when a young analyst stepped around him.

“General, we’ve had some intel come in from Dastron in regards to mopping up.”

Poe stopped. Given that the place was in turmoil as they left he would like to hear how things had gone. Hux also stopped, resisting the shove someone gave him.

“Dastron is now in full revolt. They have enacted their planetary defense systems. The First Order has gone into retreat.”

“Those idiots,” Hux blurted out. Poe raised an eyebrow and wondered if the loss of General Hux had been a worse blow for the First Order than the loss of their new ships.

 “We’ll send what help we can,” the General said.

“Also, they finally located Zhark Demos, the Dastronian Representative. It seems he was hiding in a secret tunnel beneath the shipyards. Apparently there were a number of people who managed to escape into several tunnels beneath the surface there.”

Poe felt a sense of relief. Even though Rey had managed to let many people out he was glad that more had survived in these tunnels. He started to walk towards the medical unit again as Hux was led away, impotently railing against his subordinates.

When he entered the medical unit Rey had been lowered into a bacta tank and was in no position to communicate. He stood next to Finn’s bed where his friend was asleep while hooked up to several tubes. A young woman entered the medical unit and spotted him. She looked like one of the General’s messengers.

“Commander Dameron, the General has asked if you could return to the central area. Admiral Thorceline’s ship has just come out of hyperspace.”

Poe sighed. He’d hoped to spend some time with Finn and Rey in the med unit then grab a shower and a change of clothes but this would have to come first. At least he’d had some shut eye on the trip back.

He followed the young messenger back to the central area where a small group was gathering. Poe felt a little prickle of unease in his back and his shoulders tensed.

“Is he early,” Poe said.

“Yes, three hours early. We need to delay him as long as possible while they finish _preparations_ ,” the General said.

They followed General Organa out to the landing area. Imri and Phasma’s ship had been moved to the other side of the bunker and was no longer in view, along with both of those women. He suspected they were lying low until they could get paid and leave. He was still amazed at how easily Phasma had dumped the First Order and gone out on her own. It was almost like she’d been planning it then jumped when an opportunity had presented itself.

As for Imri, he wouldn’t let himself get too attached there. She was a sweet thing but she was also less than trustworthy. He thought of her beautiful but wary eyes, the scar across her nose that made her look both tough and fragile and the lopsided head tails. She was a contradictory bundle of beauty and imperfection, sweetness with bite and a heart that seemed to be good most of the time, just not all of the time.

They were joined by Major Ematt, Admiral Statura, C-3PO and several ground troopers in uniform. Thorceline’s ship was larger than Poe had expected. It took up most of the landing area and was blocking most of the hangar where the x-wings were housed to protect them from sandstorms that sometimes sprang up.

As the ship powered down and a troop of Republic soldiers emerged, forming a phalanx each side of the exit ramp, Poe felt that prickle in his back grow while his gut started to feel hollow. He wasn’t worried yet but it was over the top for a secret visit. On instinct he moved closer to the General.

Admiral Thorceline’s tall, hunched form strode down the ramp and stopped. His lip curled as he looked about. The sour expression on his face hadn’t changed since the last time Poe had seen it. His sculpted grey hair and perfectly turned out military uniform could have rivaled General Hux himself.

General Organa stepped forward.

“Admiral Thorceline, welcome to the Resistance base. Your visit is unexpectedly early.”

Thorceline stared down at her, a predatory glint in his cold grey eyes and Poe’s disquiet grew.  

“Yes. I felt it was necessary given the circumstances.”

The General raised an eyebrow but maintained a relaxed stance. Poe admired how she could always be so cool under pressure.

“Perhaps you refer to the capture of General Hux. I can assure you we’re most happy to turn him over to the Republic for his trial and sentencing.”

Thorceline smiled in the sort of way a rancor smiles at a nerf herd. He looked about again as though he were calculating the worth of things at a fire sale. For a brief moment Thorceline’s gaze locked with his own and he knew the Admiral was about to let go whatever bomb he thought he had. When it came Poe was stunned.

“No. No, General Organa. I was not referring to General Hux, although the Republic is very happy to take custody of your current prisoner. No, I was referring to the prisoner that you let go.”

Poe’s gut clenched. That could only be one person. Poe saw the General go very still. Statura and Ematt looked at each other while C-3PO gasped. Thorceline continued, his smile taking on a mocking quality.

“I was referring to Kylo Ren. Please tell me General, was he or was he not here at your base and you…” He looked at Poe again. “…and Commander Dameron let him go.”

There was silence as mouths dropped open in shock or closed in smugness. Poe knew one thing for sure. Thorceline couldn’t have known unless there was a Centrist informer in their midst.

“Is this true,” Major Ematt said. The General closed her eyes and breathed for a moment.

“Yes.” She looked defeated but then her eyes flew open.

“Commander Dameron is not at fault. I threatened him with a blaster if he said anything.”

“Is this true?” Major Ematt demanded, turning to Poe. Under the stare of Ematt, Statura and Thorceline Poe lost his voice and stared like he was under the spotlights at a Naboo night club.

“Well…ah…” All he could think was that it was a damn kid’s toy blaster. He clenched a fist. He knew this was going to happen. Next time he saw Kylo Ren he was going to have another thing to smack his pretty chops for.

“Just as I thought,” Thorceline crowed. “They both conspired to let him go.”

Thorceline stepped forward and there was that gloating smile.

“General Leia Organa and Commander Poe Dameron, with the powers invested in me by the New Republic Senate, I am placing you both under arrest for aiding and abetting the war criminal, Kylo Ren.”

 

 

Armitage Hux flicked the dust from the white serviceable bench that ran along one wall of his cell. They had removed any items from his clothing that might have been a possible escape or suicide risk. He wasn’t used to feeling this _unbuttoned_. Inside he wanted to die and disappear but he wouldn’t give them the satisfaction…or his father more ammunition. No doubt he would hear about this soon enough.

He sat on the bench, uncaring if his clothes were sullied by its unclean surface. He’d been preparing himself for this on the way here from Dastron. He’d been humiliated and manhandled and now he’d been cast into this white hole they called a prison cell. He thought of Kari. His traitorous cousin hadn’t even had the courage to be there when he was _arrested_.

His shoulders sagged. When had they stopped being friends? If he was executed it would be nice to see her one last time before…she held too much bitterness so he probably wouldn’t see her. The only silver lining he would get was to be executed before he had to explain himself to his father. A bitter smile pulled at his mouth. That at least would be worth being executed for, screwing up his father’s plans and not having to answer for it.

The sound of tramping feet echoed down the corridor. He lifted his head wondering if they were coming to interrogate him. They wouldn’t get much out of him. He knew how to repel all the best interrogation techniques.

If there were two people he wanted to see his position reversed with it was General Leia Organa and Commander Poe Dameron so he was stunned when they were both shuffled into cells opposite his.

He looked at Organa. Yes, he could see the resemblance to Ren. He ignored Poe.

“General,” he called across the corridor. She just looked at him.

“General.”

Hux was silent for a little while. Let them sweat.

“So what are you in for,” he said. She smiled.

“Aiding and abetting Kylo Ren’s defection from the First Order.”

Hux couldn’t have been more floored if there had been a coup against Supreme Leader Snoke. Not that there hadn’t been talk about it but Ren, leaving the First Order. Something didn’t add up.

“Wait a minute. Why would that land you in your own jail?” Organa shook her head.

“Like you, he’s a war criminal.” Something still didn’t add up.

“Then why isn’t he in jail here too.”

“We let him escape with his uncle, Luke Skywalker,” Poe said.

Hux’ bottom jaw hit the floor. He really had defected. A thought entered Hux’ mind that made his blood run cold. What did Ren know about the Rellian project? Was this going to be Starkiller all over again? He thought of Snoke’s face and began to laugh, a raucous laugh that he couldn’t stop, which was strange given that he was actually terrified.  


	29. Chapter 29

Rey wasn’t sure if she was awake or asleep. Ben was gone. She tried to find that little thread of him like before on Dastron, when she’d given the light to him. She could feel it but it was faint and she couldn’t follow it. Disappointment crept into her bones. She breathed and bubbles surrounded her. She floated up and down. Her feet touched and she pushed off and floated back up. She felt tired, aching but blissfully encased in warmth. Her chest hurt sometimes but then at other times she felt as though she was floating among the stars.

Something felt different. She opened her eyes and she stood on the shores of Ahch-To. A chill wind whipped past her and creatures shrieked in the air. Luke had told her to come to Ahch-To but she didn’t remember making the journey. She turned and watched as a lone figure ascended the stairs. Ben. She called to him but he didn’t hear her. She watched him, no longer wearing the black garb of the Knights of Ren. He wore sweeping navy and maroon robes that ended in layers about his ankles. His feet encased in soft brown boots. His hands were ungloved. His hair flowed free in the wind, beautiful and dark. She wanted to lace her fingers in the silky tendrils of softness.

As Ben reached the top he looked up into the sky and extended a hand upwards. Light broke out about him, powerful and dazzling. It was a pulse that rolled off him and out over the wind raked green and blue world about him.

There was a cry of pain and anger behind her. She spun. Gem was here. Her sister screamed. _Kill them_. A red glow began behind Gem. It grew in intensity. Others came and added to the red glow. Ben stood on the hill alone. He pulled the light to him and let it flow but it wasn’t strong enough. He was overcome by the angry red wave that brought death with it. Rey held a hand over her mouth, holding in her screams of horror as he was torn down and turned to atoms before her. He was no more. Rey felt the loss as though she were once again impaled upon her light sabre. This time it took out her heart and left her gasping for life itself. Her wail of anguish was lost among the shrieks of the flying creatures.

Ben. No. It’s not true. Give him back. Give him back.

The red wave moved on, washing past her, taking everything with it and leaving behind a blackened barren landscape. Ahch-To was no more. She bent amid the silence and wept her bitterness into the ashes at her feet.

_Rey._

She looked up and saw a face in the darkness. Grandfather. She reached out to touch him but he remained just out of her grasp.

_Rey, you must take them all to Ahch-To. Leave no-one behind._

Grandfather no. If we go there we die. We must get Ben and Luke away from there. I can bring them back to the base.

_What you saw may not yet happen. He must not fight them alone. Only together will you succeed._

Rey breathed and nodded. Together!

_You cannot stay where you are. The fate of the planet where you are has already been determined. You must go. You will know when. Do not leave anyone behind._

Her grandfather’s face faded.

No, please stay. Please stay.

He was gone.

Rey was floating again. Another face came into view. His features were sharp and mean, like he was disappointed in life and would make them all pay. Grey hair, grey eyes, even his skin seemed grey. Whoever he was, he was not happy to see her. She saw him speak but could not hear the words. She closed her eyes and felt herself drift.

When she woke again she was no longer floating. She lay on a bed, white light all about her. There were beeping sounds and the whirr of a droid.

“Good morning. It’s good to see you’re awake.”

A medical droid, programmed to have the perfect bedside manner.

“Thank you,” she muttered, her head still fuzzy with sleep and fading dream images. She needed to find a data pad and write them down before she forgot them. She looked about the room. She couldn’t see her satchel anywhere. Maybe it got left behind on Dastron. She sighed. She hated losing stuff.

Another memory came to her, a head of silky black hair, its owner asleep as she talked to her mentor. She closed her eyes and remembered the way he held her hand, holding it to his chest as though it were something precious to him. She sighed. Ben was gone. Luke was gone. Even though she knew they were on Ahch-To, it still felt like they’d abandoned her. Finn was here, somewhere, and Poe and Leia and Chewbacca and BB-8. It would be good to be with them. She let out a shaky breath. She still wished Ben and Luke had stayed.

Ben. What did she feel there? He’d caused her so much pain and anguish, yet he’d saved her from Snoke, healed her of Snoke's black wound in the force, kissed her, told her he loved her. Even now she glowed from the memory of his gentle touch. Guilt plagued her for wanting to feel it again.

She didn’t know how long she’d been in the bacta tank. Surely it wasn’t a long time. In which case, only a few days ago they’d been enemies. Something had changed in Ben since then. In the morning he was determined to drag her before Snoke. That same night he’d turned against Snoke and….and plunged her own lightsabre through her chest to break Snoke’s hold on her. The memory of the pain stole her breath away. The memory of his pain broke her heart. When Snoke’s grip on her mind had slipped and faded it had been the greatest relief, worth the pain just to be free.

She raised her hand to find the place where the light sabre had gone through. She slipped her hand beneath her shirt and felt the smooth expanse of her skin beneath her fingers. You’d never know there was once a gaping hole there.

“He did that to you didn’t he.”

Rey pulled her hand away and turned to look at the scowling face of her friend standing in the doorway.

“Finn, you’re alright,” she said. His scowl disappeared and he took the few steps to her side, reached for her hand and sat on the edge of her bed.

“Yeah, whatever that stuff was you brought back worked.” Rey was happy it had been worth it to see Finn sitting there looking like nothing had been wrong.

Except when he started to frown again. She knew what, or who, he was thinking about. Rey waited for him to say what was on his mind.

“I won’t forget what he’s done,” Finn said, anger sharpening his voice. Rey squeezed his hand.

“I know how you feel about him but things aren’t the same anymore,” she said. Finn scowled again and looked down.

“They say he saved you from becoming Snoke’s next apprentice.” Rey nodded.

“Yes, he did.”

“They also said he helped you and the others get away from the First order and the Knights of Ren.” Rey nodded. Finn grimaced and stared at the floor.

“Do you forgive him?” he said.

“For the things he did to me…what he took.” She looked at Finn’s brooding face and wished she could heal his anger.

“I can’t hold on to the hate Finn. Besides, as you said, I wouldn’t be here now if it wasn’t for him.” She felt like a heel not telling him her feelings about Ben had grown into something more. Although she knew that what Ben felt for her was a lot clearer than the confused feelings she had for him.

Finn looked at her and his face softened into a grin.

“That’s what I love about you,” he said. Rey squirmed under his softening gaze. She wasn’t sure if he said that as a friend or as something more. There had always been this half way feeling that they could be something together but neither was willing to let go the friendship they already had.

Rey looked about the med unit. It seemed very quiet.

“Where are the others.”

Finn’s face dropped into a scowl again.

“This is also Kylo Ren’s fault. Admiral Thorceline is here and he arrested General Oragana and Poe for letting him escape.” Rey’s mouth fell open. Was this some kind of joke? It was Luke that took Ben away. Finn looked serious. His eyes sought out hers with that determined look she remembered.

“Rey, we have to do something. This isn’t right. Admiral Thorceline has come in and taken over somehow. It’s like he has something over both Admiral Statura and Major Ematt. No-one’s saying anything. He’s assumed control of everything and now he’s shutting it all down. They say he’s a hard core Centrist.” Finn’s jaw flexed.

Rey wasn’t up on politics but as far as she knew that was as close to being with the First Order a citizen of the Republic could get. It was a forgone conclusion Finn would hate this Thorceline.

“At least Admiral Akbar was able to get away with as many as he could. The General must have been suspicious of something like this because she had them packing the essential stuff back up and moving it out. Most of what was left was for show.”

Rey’s mind began to tick over. Dream images ghosted through her thoughts. They had to leave here, she had to take all of them with her. But when to go? Not yet. First there was the boy.

“Sanjo,” she said.

“What.”

“Luke gave me instructions to start him on basic training.” Rey started to get off the bed but stopped when she felt a twinge of pain in her chest. The med droid whizzed over to her side.

“Please, rest for now. You’re wounds are mended but you will need a little time yet for your body to settle into your rib implants.”

Finn helped her to lay back down.

“Finn, can you bring Sanjo to me. Luke thought it was important I continue his training as soon as possible. I think he already started his training on the way home from Dastron.”

The droid made a sound like a cough.

“I won’t have any Jedi training in here. There is important equipment.”

Finn stood and gave the droid one of his sweetest grins.

“Then perhaps if we could set Rey up in a larger room somewhere else, somewhere out of the way of current activity.”

Rey got the feeling Finn was up to something. The droids head tilted.

“If you mean one of the empty wards down the corridor I’m sure I can arrange something.” The idea of being closed in didn’t enthuse her. She liked to be out in the elements so she could feel the force when she trained.

“I don’t want an empty room. I want somewhere outside,” she said. Finn looked at her, his mouth set in a determined smile.

“No. No I think you should take the empty ward down the corridor,” he said. Rey looked at him and scowled. He leaned forward and looked her directly in the eye.

“There is such a lot of activity outside at the moment that might distract from Sanjo’s training.”

Rey didn’t know what he was up to be she didn’t need any further hints.

“Fine but I will need you to bring in a few boxes or crates. Make sure they’ve got some weight to them.”  

Finn grinned.

“And so you shall have them Jedi Rey,” he said.

“You know I’m not a Jedi yet,” she said. Finn smiled.

“If you say so.”

“And I need a data pad.” Finn raised a questioning eyebrow but he still nodded.

Rey insisted on getting properly dressed again but couldn’t avoid being told to sit on a hover chair. She was pushed into a large room at the end of the hallway that was stacked with boxes and crates along one side. Sanjo rushed in as she was getting settled and came to a skidding stop, his braid swinging about over his shoulder. He looked at her with worshipful eyes. Rey immediately felt inadequate.

“Finn said you were going to train me,” he blurted out. Rey smiled.

“Oh, I’m just going to oversee you while you keep going with the basics. I assume Luke gave you some basics,” she said. Sanjo nodded, his dark eyes sparkling with enthusiasm.

“Yes, he showed me how to use the lightsabre as well as the force and…I’ve been using the training ball he gave me, although I’m not very good yet.”

Rey nodded. She tried to think what it was that Luke had taught her first. Yes, there had been the lightsabre and that sneaky training ball but what else.

“Tell me, when did you first really feel the force,” she said. Sanjo was still for a moment.

“I’m not sure. Of course I felt it when we were on the First Order ship and Luke had me start with the training ball but I think I always felt it, at least I did before I started wearing the ring that blocks it.”

Rey nodded. She knew that feeling of being sure there was something there she was meant to be a part of but not knowing how to access it or even that she could. It made her stop and think for a moment.

“Where do you feel it,” she said.

His eyes grew wide with uncertainty.

“Um…”

“Do you feel it in your hands, in your shoulders, here in your chest, in your mind, your gut, your back, your feet.”

Sanjo looked at her and chewed his lip.

“I don’t know,” he said. Rey knew it had been the same with her. It had taken half a day for her to figure out that she felt it most in her mind and upper back.

“Close your eyes. Let yourself feel the force flowing through you. Think about where you feel the power. Where does it come from? Where does it go?” She was quiet letting him do as she said.

His eyes fluttered open but then he shut them tight again.

“This is not meant to be easy,” she said, hoping to reassure him. “Take your time. Stand comfortably and just let your mind wander…now bring it back to your body…where did you go.”

She waited for him to do as she said. She watched as his fingers twitched. He breathed and his chest rose and fell.

His eyes popped open.

“Um…I don’t think I’m doing this right. Nothing seems to be happening.”

“Oh something is happening Sanjo. You just need to give yourself time. Close your eyes again and do the same again,” he closed his eyes and breathed in. She saw him rub his fingers together before he shrugged his shoulders and then tried to stay still.

“Let your mind wander. Think about your sister and what she’s doing….

think about your favourite food…

think about the way the galaxy spins…

think about what you wanted to be as a child…

Now come back to this moment and think about your body, your breath, where do you feel the strength in your body.”

His hands twitched again and his chest rose and fell. Rey nodded.

“What do you feel?” He opened his eyes.

“Um…maybe I feel it in my chest,” he said. Rey nodded.

“Yes, I think you do, but you feel it somewhere else first. You will realize this soon enough but for now I want you to get one of those boxes and bring it here.”

Sanjo turned to go and get one of the boxes.

“No,” she said. He stopped and looked back at her, confused.

“Use the force,” she said. His mouth fell open.

“Oh. Um…of course.”

Five minutes later a box shook and toppled off the stack onto the floor. His grin was infectious. She waved a hand for him to keep going. His power was still shaky and uncentered but his determination was making up for the rest. It was time to try something to confirm her suspicions.

“Sanjo, I want you to extend both of your hands towards the box and imagine the force flowing from your arms and hands out from your fingers. Imagine it flowing to the box and back again, pulling the box into your chest.”

He nodded and turned back again to the box. He stood with his eyes closed and his hands extended.

The box slid across the floor towards them but stopped when Sanjo’s eyes flew open and he gasped with wonder. Rey nodded.

“Your power flows from your hands Sanjo. It flows from your chest as well, Luke will be interested in how that works but your primary power flows from your hands.”

Rey spent the remainder of the day taking him through forms and meditations to help him focus the centre of his power before she gave him her lightsabre and let him finish with a battle with the training ball. To his joy and amazement he won more than he lost.

Rey spent some time writing the dream images she could remember into the data pad Finn brought her as well. She was surprised that her satchel had also made it back from Dastron and she now checked through it. Her hand knocked against something hard and cool. Her fingers curled about it and she pulled it out. It was the dusty crystalline stone she’d found in the cave.

Rey held it up to the light and looked at it. Sanjo gasped.

“It’s a kyber crystal,” he said. She gave it to him and he stared at it in wonder.

“Keep it. One day you can make your own lightsabre with it.” He chewed at his lip then extended the crystal back to her.

“No. It doesn’t feel like mine,” he said. Rey gave a wry smile. She knew what he meant. It didn’t feel quite like hers either, even though it had almost made her find it and pick it up. She slipped it back into her satchel. It would belong to someone.

Rey was finished sitting about for the day. She wanted to get up and use her body. It had to be healed enough by now. She leaned forward in her chair and put her feet on the ground. There was no twinge of pain. She stood.

“Rey, should you be standing,” Sanjo said.

Rey waved him away.

“I’ll be fine,” she said. It felt good to stand up and move about. She walked about and let the force flow through her from her mind, down her back and into her feet before it flowed through the rest of her body.

A new presence entered the room. There was something familiar about this person.

“Ah, Jedi girl.”

Rey stiffened. She knew that voice. She spun around and looked up into the blue eyes of Captain Phasma. Rey had her lightsabre in her hand but stopped herself from igniting it. Phasma wasn’t dressed the way she had been the last time they faced off. If Rey ignited her sabre this time and placed it against her chest she’d burn a hole straight through the giant woman standing before her… and the pretty blue dress she wore. 

“What is this,” Rey said.

“A distraction,” Phasma said.

“You got that right.” Rey shook her head. “I mean what are _you_ doing _here_ …” she waved her lightsabre hilt at the swirling skirts and low neckline “…dressed like that.” Rey had never seen a woman so transformed and had to admit she was jealous. Stupid ideas of wearing something similar while Ben watched her floated through her mind. Another thought burned into her brain. Had Ben ever seen Phasma dressed like this…stop it Rey.  

“Why are you here and not with Hux and the First Order.”

“I defected.” She paused for a moment. “Actually, I left to go bounty hunting.” Rey wasn’t sure if she believed her. Another figure slid through the door, a blue Twi’lek. She looked like the kind of Twi’lek you’d mess with at your peril. She spoke in a low and urgent voice.

“Phasma, hurry, we have to go before…”

Finn walked back in and the Twi’lek hissed with annoyance. Phasma and Finn regarded each other with cool menace but Finn showed no outward aggression or surprise so Rey figured she was telling the truth about defecting. Phasma turned back to Rey.

“I just wanted to see if it was true. Ren ran you through with a lightsabre and you survived.” Phasma looked her up and down and then huffed. “I think we’ll be going now.”

“Not so fast Captain,” Finn said. They glared at each other. The Twi’lek hissed.

“What do you need us for? You got your Jedi back and we brought you Hux. We’re leaving.” Rey frowned. Had she heard that right? They’d brought Hux. She looked at Phasma standing there like she was a goddess and knew she could believe it.

There was an influx of people at the door then, blocking the two women from leaving. Rey saw Solia and her father, Chewbacca, BB-8 and R2-D2, Snap Wexley, Jessika Pava and Lieutenant Connix among the group. Chewbacca pulled out a device and flicked a switch. There was a faint piercing sound in her ear and then it disappeared. Rey figured it was a bug dampener.

“Where’s C3-PO,” Finn said.

“Thorceline was getting suspicious so he stayed and began some boring story about his first job translating binary load lifters or something.”

The room seemed to stop for a moment and consider the bungling genius that was the gold droids forte.

“Sounds like he’ll be here soon,” the Twi’lek muttered. Chewie growled. He considered the droid a friend.

Snap Wexley stepped forward.

“Right, it has to be tonight. Thorceline is going to take Hux to the Republic first thing tomorrow and no doubt he will take the General and Dameron as well.”

He turned to Rey.

“Can we count on you to break them out of their cells,” he said. Rey stared at the pilot trying to piece together the bits he’d just said. Finn stepped forward.

“Ah, I haven’t been able to fill her in on everything yet.”

“Fill me in about what,” Rey said. Snap jumped in before Finn could continue.

“We’re going to bust out the General and the Commander and take back the base.”

Everyone looked at her like it was her say so or not to do this. She had a sneaking suspicion she was a stand in for Luke and she wasn’t sure her feet were big enough for those shoes. There was one problem with the basic premise of their actions though. According to her grandfather they had to leave. She was going to have to be very clear about her next statement.

“We’re not going to take back the base,” she said. Her statement was met with scowls, raised eyebrows and gasps. She closed her eyes for a moment and let the force flow.

“We’re getting off this planet and leaving no-one behind.”

There were stunned gazes.

“What do you mean we’re leaving?”

“We’re busting everyone out of prison and then everyone is going to take what they can, find a transport and get off this…planet.”

“Tyrad,” someone supplied. Rey waved a thank you in the general direction of the voice and continued.

“No-one is to be left behind…” she had to make this clear… “including Thorceline.”

There was silence for a few more moments.

“Is this some kind of Jedi knowledge thing or…”

“Yes,” Rey said. There was more silence and people looking between each other. She’d pulled out her big gun and she really hoped it worked.

“Okay. Let’s get to it,” Finn said. Rey smiled at him but hoped he was agreeing with her because he believed her not because he was trying to be loyal to the crazy Jedi girl.

“Wait a minute,” Connix said. Rey tensed. “How are we supposed to get Thorceline to leave?”

Jessika Pava spoke up as well. “We can’t just leave. We spent months surveying this place.”

Rey knew this would be hard but she had to find some way to convince them. There were some things that might work and some things that probably wouldn’t.

“Luke gave me very specific instructions before he left. I am following them to the best of my understanding,” she said. Some were won over, others were not.

“Look, I know Luke Skywalker is a Jedi and a hero but he’s not here and he doesn’t know about any of this,” a young officer said. He must be new as Rey didn’t recognise him from her previous sojourn with the Resistance.

C3-PO shuffled into the room.

“I’m sorry I’m late. These Republic sorts are always so hard to impress. I wasn’t able to get away until Admiral Thorceline received a transmission.” The droid continued to talk as he tottered past the others and went to stand beside R2-D2. He put a hand on R2’s dome and turned to look at everyone with his unblinking gold stare.

“What transmission,” Finn said.

“Oh, of course. Yes, it was a transmission, and if I have my translation correct, from a Bade Waldren about the arrival of reinforcements.”

“Bade Waldren,” Phasma spat out. Everyone turned to look at her. She glared back but she looked a little pale around the edges.

“He’s a mercenary that the First Order is very familiar with.”

“Doesn’t he have close dealings with the Knights of Ren as well,” the Twi’lek said.

“That’s how the First Order knows of him,” Phasma said.

The room was quiet. Eyes began to turn once again to Rey.

“We’re leaving,” she said. Heads were nodding.

“What about Thorceline,” Finn said. “If he’s a First Order sympathiser shouldn’t we be arresting him?”

“Maybe we should leave him here for this Bade Waldren,”Jessika said.

“No,” Rey said. “No-one is to be left behind.”

“I believe Admiral Akbar is waiting in a rendezvous point for instructions,” Connix said. “We could ask him to return and help.”

A plan had been formulating in Rey’s head as they spoke.

“If Admiral Akbar can return and help take Thorceline and his troops then we can move them out. We need to get every transport ready to go, including the medical equipment.  We need to take as much as we can with us but your priority is people and getting them on a transport. I will go with Sanjo and Chewie to get the prisoners.”

More heads were nodding. Finn spoke up.

“If anyone wants to join me I’ll work on contacting Akbar and taking Thorceline’s troops.” Snap and Jessika quickly sided with him. Finn looked at Solia.

“I know Kalonia is gone but would you and your father work with the droids to get the rest of the medical equipment on board.” Solia and her father agreed without question.

Connix also spoke up. “Me and 3-PO can work on organising the transports and getting as much equipment on board as we can. I know of several others who will be able to help as well.” Rey looked about as the larger group began to break up into smaller groups with their impromptu team leaders. She hadn’t expected that to go so well.

Her eyes landed on Phasma and the Twi’lek. For some reason they seemed to be together. Partners in bounty hunting now maybe. She didn’t know how trustworthy either of those women could be. To be honest she didn’t know if she could trust Phasma at all. She seemed to easily insert herself into their workings as though she belonged there and Rey had a feeling that she did not. Whatever they were doing she had no intention of letting them out of her sight.

“You two come with us,” she said.

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” Phasma said. She glared at Chewbacca. “Or him.” Rey scowled but then she remembered Finn telling her about how Chewie had taken her down on Starkiller Base. For his part Chewie looked amused and huffed before his face resolved into what, for a Wookie, looked like a predatory smirk. Phasma was actually rattled. Rey figured she could use that.

“Chewie, make sure these two don’t get ‘lost’ or anything like that.” He barked his assent and stepped towards the two women. They looked about ready to scatter but there weren’t a lot of places for them to go.

Rey turned to leave and stopped. She wasn’t in the medical facility anymore.

She stood on a rocky ridge in an arid landscape. She looked about and saw the Resistance base below. Even though she’d never seen this planet she knew it was here. In the distance a red glow burst over the horizon and stretched out until it was lost at the edges. Rey shook and whimpered. She knew what it was, the red wave that had destroyed Ahch-To in her vision. It swept across the surface, unrelenting, coming to consume everyone and everything.

Rey stood, blind and deaf to the things around her.

Images from her previous vision came to her. Images of Ben. Her heart stopped…No. Give him back. She shook her head. No. It hasn’t happened yet. I can still change it. She looked for the thread of their bond and tried to follow it, tried to reach him but it was no use. Another memory came to her. A voice. Kill them. Gem. Rey shook her head. No, she was dead.

Rey stopped, her heart hammering in her chest. She’d thought her sister was dead once before. She closed her eyes and felt it. That prickling pain as she reached out lurked somewhere in the background. No, Gem wasn’t dead. She was here, somewhere.

“Rey, what’s wrong?” It was Sanjo. She turned and saw him and she was back in the medical facility. She breathed in and out while her heart rate slowed. Whatever the red wave was, it was linked to the Knights of Ren.

“I need to speak to Hux…and his cousin, Kari.”

She turned to Phasma and the Twi’Lek. “And you two.”

 


	30. Chapter 30

The prison was at the other end of the base. Sanjo led the way as Rey didn’t trust Phasma or the Twi’Lek and she didn’t know the way herself. Chewie brought up the rear. Sanjo led them on a circuitous route through the back rooms and corridors of the base. He stopped.

“Troops ahead,” he whispered. They scuttled back around the corner they’d just come about and flattened themselves against a wall. They waited while the sound of footsteps moved away. Rey looked up at Phasma. The image of her carrying Ben in her arms on Dastron flashed into her mind. The memory still galled and her mouth fired up in response.

“I hope you didn’t ditch the armour,” Rey said. “That dress won’t stop blaster fire.”

Phasma glared at her.

“The armour was too conspicuous for a Resistance base,” she hissed.

“So’s that dress.”

“Thorceline liked it.”

Rey ground her teeth and turned away.

“Typical First Order flirting with the Centrists,” she muttered.

“Listen scavenger, the only reason I’m still here is because that piece of space dirt Thorceline, still hasn’t paid us for Hux.”

Chewie huffed and growled at them to be quiet while Sanjo and the Twi’Lek looked anywhere else but at them. Rey reminded herself that now was not the time to start bickering with Phasma.

Sanjo looked around the corner again and waved for them to move on. They made a few discreet enquiries about where Kari was along the way but no-one was certain. Rey hoped that Hux would have the information she needed. She needed to know about that deadly red wave and Hux would be her best source of information. Getting Hux to tell her what she wanted to know would be another matter.

The prison was formed by an initial reception pod that branched off into a corridor that led to another pod where the cells were. Their first problem was standing at the entrance to the prison reception pod. Thorceline had stationed two enormous guards with equally enormous blasters just outside the entrance. As a group they could take them but the ensuing ruckus would bring other troops down on them and in very short order Thorceline would have the base on alert for trouble. Rey did not want that to happen this early in the plan.

“Right, this is where we see if this dress is worth the trouble,” Phasma said. Rey looked up at her and blinked.

“How is a dress going to…” Phasma didn’t wait for Rey to finish she just strode out towards the two guards. Rey glared at Phasma’s back. Damn the woman. Sanjo looked alarmed and Chewie huffed. The Twi’Lek was the only one who looked unconcerned. She just shook her head and went back to making sure her blaster was in proper working order. Rey looked closer at the Twi’Lek and wondered if she’d seen her before. She shook her head and turned back to where Phasma was about to blow their cover.

“Excuse me but do you think you could give me a hand,” Phasma said. The two guards looked suspicious but Rey could see a glint in their eyes as they looked her up and down. Rey shook her head. It was the oldest trick in the damn book but it still worked.

“No,” was the blunt reply. Phasma sighed.

“You don’t even know what I want,” she said.

“You want to distract us in the hope that we’ll leave the prison unguarded.”

“Oh, am I that obvious. Well I guess I’ll just have to break Hux out some other way,” she said. Rey clenched her fists and ground her teeth again. This wasn’t going to work. The two guards tensed. One in particular, stepped forward, a predatory look on his face.

“I think perhaps you need to come with me,” he said. Phasma made a pathetic show of resisting as the guard hauled her inside where the cells were. Rey hoped this was part of the plan. Last time she looked, Phasma was not so easily overcome. Chewie made a low yowl.

“Yeah, only one now but I still don’t think we should rush him. He can still raise the alarm before we get to him.” Rey thought for a moment and decided to take Phasma’s lead. She strode out, straight for the guard. Rey was met with the same scepticism as Phasma. That didn’t matter. She only had one thing she needed to say but first she needed to take a breath and pull the force to her. The guard made a show of holding his blaster in a prominent position in front of his chest.

“You’re relieved of your duty soldier. You may return to your quarters.” The guard straightened but instead of walking away as she hoped he blinked and just stared at her confused. It seemed she needed to keep practising this. She centred herself and spoke again.

“You may return to your quarters.” The guard looked about and nodded. Without a word he strode back down the corridor. Rey breathed a sigh of relief. She turned around to find Sanjo and the Twi’Lek looking at her with gaping mouths. She did her best to keep a smug smile off her face. Chewie on the other hand did a Wookie version of rolling his eyes and strode past her towards the prison entrance. Rey’s shoulders sagged a little. No doubt Chewie would have seen Luke do that before with far less effort and better results.

“Practice makes perfect,” she muttered to herself.

Once they were inside the prison Rey looked about. Phasma stood there, facing the prison administrator and two smaller guards with their hands in the air. The blaster the external guard had been carrying was now in her hands and pointed directly at the internal prison staff while the external guard lay on the ground. Rey was impressed. Chewie grunted as he nudged the external guard with his foot. The guard groaned and started to get up but Chewie cuffed him on the back of the head and he fell back down.

“Well, smooth sailing so far,” the Twi’Lek said. Rey turned to her.

“Sorry, no-one’s told me your name.”

“Imri Hallomy.” Rey let the name roll about her mind for a moment then felt it fall into place. Maybe it was the scar that had thrown her before. Maybe she just had too many other things going on to notice.

“Were you ever on Jakku?”

Imri looked at her. “Yeah, why do you ask?”

“I once met a Twi’Lek who taught me how to manipulate a computer when I was on Jakku.”

Imri looked closer.

“You’re that girl who was hanging around Unkar Plutt’s place.”

Rey nodded.

“You’re mother’s in Skath Holding right,” Imri said. Rey froze.

“Makes sense now why they had that weird cell way down below. I can imagine they’d need something like that to keep her from using the force to get out.”

Rey’s mind whirled. She felt like she was detached from her body watching someone who looked like her sway backwards and stumble.

Chewie barked and growled at Imri as he reached out for Rey to keep her upright. Imri’s mouth dropped open.

“Oh…I could be mistaken…I just thought… Plutt said you were a charity kid he’d been loaded with after your mother was sent to prison for treason or something.”

Chewie growled at Imri again. Rey was trembling and her gut was churning.

Grandfather is this true.

There was no reply.

Grandfather.

 “I’m sorry …Plutt said a lot of dodgy stuff you couldn’t trust,” Imri said in a voice that grew less certain as she spoke.

Rey was just staring and not seeing. She tried to remember her mother’s face. Her mind raced with fear as she realised she was no longer sure what she looked like. Was it because her memory wasn’t fully restored or had it just been that long? She had chestnut hair and freckled skin but she couldn’t remember the colour of her eyes or the shape of her nose, her mouth or her cheeks, especially now when she needed to remember her. She was a beautiful, strong woman and Rey knew her mother loved her but when she tried to remember her face it was a blur. Something hard and painful caught in her throat and tears stung the back of her eyes.

A huge hairy hand gave her a gentle shake. She looked up at Chewie. He was watching her, a murmur of worry in his throat. It was just a little moment that said he cared but it brought her back to the present.

“Rey we need to get the prisoners out,” Sanjo said. Rey took a breath. This had to be a mistake. Imri must have her mother mixed up with someone else. Her mother was dead, killed during the civil war. Rey swallowed and breathed. It might just be as Imri said, a mistake. Her father wouldn’t lie about that.  

“Imri, can you open the cells,” Rey said in a strained voice.  The Twi’lek motioned with her blaster for the administrator to move aside and worked the keyboard with speedy fingers. There were only three prisoners, Leia, Poe and Hux. Rey shook her head. There was so much riding on her keeping her head while they got everything and everyone off this planet. She couldn’t let herself get distracted by possibilities. She swallowed and clamped down on the fear that Imri might be right.

Rey turned and ran down the corridor with the pod where the cells were. Poe and Leia were just stepping out.

“Rey, quickly. It’s Hux,” Leia said. Rey stopped and looked at her, still trying to wrench her mind back into the present. Leia swept past and into the cell opposite. Rey followed. Hux was lying on the floor.

“He had a visitor. Whoever it was left about ten minutes ago.” Leia knelt by his side and turned him over. He coughed and spluttered. Rey looked over Leia’s shoulder. His face was pale and his skin looked clammy. He had deep mauve shadows around his eyes. His mouth opened and closed but he said nothing.

“Poison,” Rey said.

“A good chance of it,” Leia said. Hux’ eyes grew wider and panicked.

“We need medical,” Rey said. Sanjo had followed her down the corridor and was now looking in the door beside Poe. He pushed through and knelt beside Leia.

“I think I’ve seen this before,” he said. “Karote poisoning. We should get Solia. She’ll know what to do.” Sanjo turned and left, no doubt to find his sister.

“Hux, we’re getting help,” Leia said. Hux’ mouth opened and closed as though he was trying to say something. Leia leaned closer to hear. He whispered something in her ear.

“The Rellian Project,” she said. He closed his eyes. Leia shook him.

“Hux. Stay with us.” He opened his eyes again. They fell on Rey and he swallowed, an intense look in his eye that she didn’t understand. Phasma pushed her way in the door and dropped next to Hux. Rey moved back.

“Hux. You idiot. If you die on me.” She grabbed his shoulder and he groaned. “What do you think this is, a first year training session?” He coughed and closed his eyes.

“Hux,” she yelled. He groaned and she shook him again. “This is not acceptable cadet. No sleeping on the job. Stay awake and fight it.” Sanjo returned.

“She’s coming. She said to keep him awake. If he goes to sleep he won’t wake up.” Hux moaned and tried to sit up. Rey wondered at the man’s determination. She didn’t know much about Karote poisoning but what she’d heard was that without the antidote it was usually fatal.

Rey looked about to see if there was any other evidence but there was nothing. Her gaze then returned to look Hux over again. There was something.

“Leia, look at his hand.” Leia picked up his hand and turned it over. There was a red rash spreading down from his wrist. Leia pulled up his sleeve and there, stuck into his skin was something that looked like a tiny star-shaped metal bur.

“Don’t touch it,” Sanjo said. “We need something to get that out without poisoning ourselves.” Rey knew what she needed to do.

“I can get it,” she said. It was going to be delicate but her control was getting better. Phasma moved aside and let her in. Rey gathered the force to her and reached down and pulled. The ugly little object jerked from his skin and flew towards her. There were several gasps. Just before it collided with her hand she turned her hand over and caught it with the force so it hovered above her palm.

Hux coughed and drew in a shaky breath.

“I need a piece of cloth to wrap it in or a container,” Rey said. Phasma ripped off a piece of her dress. Rey quickly encased it in the blue folds of fabric, its deadly points covered for now.

Solia appeared and pushed her way through the door. Phasma and Rey moved back out into the corridor and looked about at what was happening outside the cell. Everyone was just watching with wide eyes. Rey watched Solia work, searching through her bag for bottles and equipment. Rey made a mental note to thank Solia for saving her own life when she got a chance.

Kari Hux rushed down the corridor to the cells.

“Where is he?” Rey pointed and she rushed past into the cell. Leia came out of the cell then. She strode past them back to the prison reception pod to the prison administrator. Rey and Poe trailed along behind. If she noticed an intense look pass between Poe and Imri when they got back to the prison reception she ignored it and filed it away for questions to ask Finn later.

“Bring up the security cameras. That visitor was wearing green fatigues,” Leia said.

The administrator stood there confused.

“Imri,” Rey said waving her hand towards the console. Imri complied without question and brought up the tapes. They watched as a figure, face concealed by a cap and a scarf, walked through the prison area and straight to Hux’ cell. No-one reacted to the figure as it strode by, as though they couldn’t see it. Something else was going on. Rey felt a shiver of something and a prickle in her mind. She concentrated on the figure. Rey felt her heart jump and something cold and hard twisted in her gut.

“Gem,” she murmured. There was no outward sign that it was her sister apart from the person on the screen being about the right size.

“Who,” Leia said.

“My sister.”

“What.”

“She was…is a Knight of Ren.” Rey turned to Leia, who stared at the security video, her mouth ajar and frown lines deepening in her forehead. Rey wondered if Luke had told his sister about her family.

“What do you know about my sister?”

Leia looked up, her mouth closed now and her lips pressed together in a line. She sighed.

“Only what Luke told me,” she said. Rey wasn’t sure if Leia was avoiding telling her something or not.

“What did Luke tell you?”

Leia crossed her arms and smiled that little sideways smile. “That it was a bad idea to remember things for you,” she said.

Rey looked down, her cheeks growing warm. Trying to pump the General for information about her family was not fair. Rey looked back at the screen where the picture of her sister was frozen in place then back at Leia.

“Why would she come here to kill Hux?” Rey said. Leia shook her head. Rey strode back to the cell where they had Hux sitting up now, the colour returning to his face. Rey crouched down in front of him. His eyes locked with hers, that odd look was back again while a smile ghosted about his mouth. Rey didn’t know what was going through his head right now but she needed to know what he knew.

“My sister came to your cell. Gem. Why was she here? What did she want?”

Hux’ eyes widened and he opened his mouth but all that came out was a hoarse, unintelligible croaking. Solia put a hand on Rey’s shoulder.

“You won’t get anything out of him for a few hours yet. One of the side effects of Karote poisoning is it paralyses the vocal cords.” Rey growled in frustration. They were running out of time. She could feel it.

Hux looked down at her hand then turned away. That set a cog in her mind turning over. If he couldn’t tell her with his voice maybe there was another way he could tell her. She was reminded of Ben when they were on Starkiller when he’d touched her on her face while he looked through her memory. Rey put her hand up towards Hux’ temple. His eyes flew wide and he scrambled back. Rey figured he may have seen Ben do this before and didn’t like the idea of being on the receiving end this time.

Rey looked at Hux fear and doubts assailed her. Would she be able to get from Hux what she needed without hurting him? Would she be able to do it at all? She’d stolen things from Ben’s mind that day on Starkiller. She’d stolen that knowledge about how to get into someone’s mind. She’d done it to Ben hadn’t she? Was it the bond that allowed her to do that or had that just made it easier?

Rey put her hand down. It had caused her some pain but it was more the invasion of her mind and being forced to relive the memories she’d buried that had caused her distress. Knowing as she did what it was like to have someone in her mind she was reticent to do the same to someone else, whoever it was, especially someone who was not willing.

 “I need to know about a red wave that kills a planet,” she said. Hux went still.

“You know what I’m talking about,” she said. He was silent just staring at her for a long moment that began to grow uncomfortable then he sighed and nodded. She lifted her hand to his temple and tried to remember what she’d done with Ben. She’d been so busy pushing back against Ben it had happened without her realising what she’d done. But then during the fight she’d looked into his mind then too. She thought about Hux thoughts and pushed at them.

Hux flinched and his eyes bulged. Rey pulled back.

“I’m sorry. Too rough.” Ben’s mind was so strong that she’d needed a great deal of effort to get inside. She wasn’t going to need that much effort with Hux. She put her hand back and this time just nudged. His eyes became fixed on hers.

Her mind was once again in a whirl of images passing by so quickly she wasn’t sure where to look. She soon realised something. It would take too long to sort through all of his memories to find what she needed. She needed to provide them both with direction. Like Ben had. She leaned closer as he stared at her.

“Tell me about the red wave.”

It took her a while to find it but eventually she realised what she needed to see was closer to the surface of his mind. This was where the recent memories and conscious thoughts were, except when she locked onto a thought in his mind it was showing her something different.

Her sister’s face. Rey couldn’t help but follow this thought. Gem’s words to Hux were in his mind. The look of contempt she aimed at Hux. Pain washed through them both as she saw the way Gem had dragged from his mind the knowledge of something. A number of a cell in Skath Holding.

Rey pulled away, fear ripping through her.

“No. Please don’t let her go there,” Rey said. Hux shook his head, grabbed her hand and put it back on the side of his face. Rey decided she didn’t like being in someone else’s head but reminded herself there was more she needed to know. She nudged into his mind again, his eyes glazing over as his stare, already unnerving, grew even more fixed on her. This time she could see the red glow. A weapons test. The Rellian Project. Gem had wanted to stop him from divulging this. He knew what was coming though and didn’t want to die.

“I’ve already seen this in vision Hux. I need to know how it works and what they’re going to do with it.”

“What have you seen,” Leia said. Rey realised the others needed to know as well.

“It’s a weapon. The Rellian Project. It’s a red wave that leaves a planet’s surface in ashes.”

Other thoughts were coming from Hux, less clear and fast.

“It uses the dark side of the force. It’s a network of….what? Hux slow down….just go back and think again…yes, the Knights of Ren. No wait. Ok. It’s a network of ships in which the Knights of Ren link with each other and the dark side. The dark side powers it. The force powers it. No it really is the dark side Hux. Oh. They link together to form a beam…they have devices in these ships with a synthetic kyber crystal created with the dark side of the force…the network focusses the beam…it spreads out over the planet…I can see it…the dark side is growing within the beam until it’s a wave that surrounds a planet and…” Rey pulled her hand away and stared at him.

“They’re coming here and they’re going to use it to destroy the Resistance, you, the republic ships, Thorceline, everything.” Hux nodded. There was silence for a moment as everyone looked at each other.

“We have to stop them,” Sanjo said.

“No,” Rey said. “I have already seen this in vision. We can’t stop it. Not here anyway. This planet’s fate is already decided. We have to leave. We have to be gone before they get here.”

Somewhere far off an alarm sounded.

 

 

Ben took a deep breath as he looked at the planet below, a blue green jewel in a black sea. The place of the first Jedi temple. Snoke had wanted it destroyed, along with his uncle and everything else that might get in his way. The darkness still in him feared this place but when he looked at the softening expression in his uncle’s eyes he searched deeper and realised the light within him was also drawn to it.

Luke remained silent. Since they’d gone into hyperspace a silence had begun to yawn between them. Ben had wanted to talk but didn’t know how to start. His uncle it seemed had grown used to saying little. Ben didn’t know what he’d expected. He’d been prepared to take whatever lecture or punishment Luke gave him but not silence. It wasn’t an angry silence. Luke just didn’t say anything. At some point they had both slept and eaten. Luke had meditated. Ben had tried but couldn’t stay focussed for long enough.

It wasn’t long before his mind had drifted to Rey. There was a little ache in his heart knowing he wouldn’t be there for Rey when she woke up. He caught himself fantasizing about the moment she woke and looked into his eyes. He’d tell her everything in his heart. He’d make better everything he’d done to hurt her. He propped his elbow on the console in front of him and rested his chin in his hand…and winced when he bumped the still healing bruise on his face from Poe’s fist. No doubt there would have been more bruises or worse if he’d stayed. Whatever dreams and fantasies he had about Rey, they were never going to come true. He better get used to that idea.

Now he sat in the co-pilot’s seat wondering what lay below for him.

“This place is strong with the Force,” Luke said. Ben was startled out of his reverie, blinking at the breaking of the long silence.

“Yes, I feel it,” Ben said.

“The first temple was built on a place that is strong with the light. Stronger than anywhere I’ve ever found.”

Ben looked at Luke then down at the planet again. They’d spent a great deal of time in years past searching out old Jedi knowledge before…Snoke… Ben chewed his lip. The last six years was a scar between them that right now was too painful to touch. The time Ben had spent with his uncle in the past, which had seemed so bitter to him only days ago, now felt like a lost world that he pined for.

“Obi-Wan said Rey wasn’t ready for this place. Not until she could remember who she was.”

Ben frowned. “Why?”

Luke shook his head. “When Snoke wiped her memory, it left a dark stain in her that struggled with the light. This place was too much too soon. I decided to leave and train her on Pal Charin.”

Ben nodded. Made sense, it had been a neutral place for the force and wouldn’t attract attention. From memory it was one of the few planets they’d found no past evidence of Jedi or Sith.

“I looked for Rey,” Ben said.

“Everyone looked for her,” Luke said. “Even your father.”

Ben felt a painful thump in his chest. His father’s forgiveness hadn’t taken away all the pain of what he’d done. Ben began to shake. There was still so much that he couldn’t expect forgiveness for. The knowledge of what he’d done began to weigh down on him. His father warned him that Snoke would crush him but whatever Soke had done or might still do was nothing compared to the guilt that now crushed him.

“What I did at the Academy was wrong,” he said, tears stinging the back of his eyes. Luke was silent again. Ben had shut off their bond a long time ago and he thought it was gone forever but now he could feel its pull. He reached out with a tentative force touch. He was met with guilt as heavy as his own. Ben pulled back and frowned.

“I thought you’d be angry,” he said.

“With Snoke, yes. Not you.”

“But I killed so many people at the academy. I made them follow Snoke or die. I believed Snoke instead of you. I’ve killed, murdered others since then.”

Luke closed his eyes and pressed his lips together. Ben could feel the pain and anger rolling off his uncle and beneath it an unbearable throb of guilt.

“I failed you,” he said. “I doubted you, even for just a moment and that was all it took. Snoke had you. He turned you into what we had all tried to avoid.”

“Darth Vader,” Ben said. Luke sighed and his shoulders slumped.

“My father, your grandfather, was more than Darth Vader,” Luke said.

“I didn’t know. I only knew what Snoke told me about him,” Ben said, unable to keep the note of accusation from his voice. Luke nodded and sagged further in his seat.

“We should have told you, I know. We didn’t want you to grow up in that shadow. As time went by it got harder to tell you. We didn’t realise what it would do to you.”

Ben knew it was true. Snoke had played on his fear and anger. Fear that he would never measure up and anger that no-one seemed to care about that, about him. Knowing who he really was had been like a key to a whole new world of possibilities that he could grasp and make his own. He could succeed as his grandfather had. But that too had been a lie. Another one of Snoke’s construction of lies that had kept him trapped in a cage of fears.

“With you he twisted your fears into a weapon against you. With me he used my pride against me,” Luke said.

Ben stared at his uncle’s face, sadder and older now and shook his head.

“No. You were never proud uncle. Annoyingly humble maybe but not proud,” he said. Luke laughed.

“Oh yes, I was so proud of my humility.”

“Uncle Luke, that’s not true…” His uncle held up his hand.

“I learned a painful lesson Ben. One that better men than myself have had to learn also.” Ben sensed that his uncle wanted to talk but wasn’t going to be rushed. His uncle looked at him, his blue eyes reflected the colour of the old blue lightsabre Rey now carried but the light within was darkened by pain. Ben knew he’d done that to him.

“I expected you to choose me over Snoke the way my father had chosen me over the Emperor.” Luke shook his head. “I was foolish enough to think that my influence was greater than Snoke’s but that’s not where my pride really tripped me up.”

Ben was transfixed. He had never considered his uncle’s side of things before. All he’d seen was a family who’d lied to him.

“It all started when I thought I could turn Snoke from the dark side the way I turned Rey’s mother, Galena, from the dark side.” Luke looked at him. “The way my father had turned from the dark for my sake.” Ben felt his mouth drop open. He had never considered this before.

“But we kept from you who you really were.” Ben closed his eyes. A pulse of anger filled him at the way Snoke had manipulated and taken advantage of this fact.

“I expected too much from you,” Luke continued. “I thought you would see the rightness of the light. Galena had turned from the dark because she could see what it had done to her family and could still do to Rey. She turned from the dark for the sake of her daughter. Your grandfather turned from the dark for the sake of his family. I thought it would be the same with you. I was wrong. We failed you as a family and we let Snoke into your life while he let me think I could make him see the way of the light. He manipulated me by using my pride as easily as he manipulated you with your fears.” Luke looked straight into Ben’s eyes.

“The thing was that it was your father who could see it better than the rest of us what was going on.” Luke sighed and bowed his head. “We didn’t listen. We pushed him away because we thought he didn’t understand.”

Ben felt as though he’d been stabbed as that cold hard realisation struck him. He shook as once again he saw the pain in his father’s face and felt his touch on his face again. He’d pushed his father away too, believing he didn’t understand. He tried to remember his father’s words from the time they spent in the force only a few days ago but the earlier image of his father’s horror struck face when Ben had thrust his lightsabre into him was all he could see. Tears blinded his eyes and he dashed them away with an impatient hand. Ben would do anything to bring his father back, to undo what he did.

_I love you more than that._

The words whispered through his mind, his awareness only just catching them before they faded. Ben breathed and let the words sink in. They had to be true. They were silent again as they flew across the waters of Ahch-To. They hovered for a moment over a group of islands.

“There’s something about those islands that puzzles me,” Luke said. Ben looked down at them and admired them for their sheer beauty. There was something about them that he could see, although it was unlikely to be important.

“If you trace a line around all their edges you get the shape of the Rebel Starbird symbol,” Ben said. Luke laughed and nodded.

“Well what do you know. Yes, I see it now.”

They guided the Falcon down to the landing area on Ahch-To. Ben recognised the image of the island from Rey’s mind and shivered. He’d hurt her when he went looking in her mind, something he hated himself for. He’d hurt so many people, he didn’t deserve to be here.

“I didn’t bring you here for some R and R Ben,” his uncle said. Ben frowned. Like old times, Luke knew the train of his thoughts.

“What do you mean?”

“This place will test you. It will banish the dark side from you or it will consume you.”

Ben felt a prickle on the back of his neck. His uncle’s face had become stern, unflinching between one moment and the next. Trembling broke out in the core of his being. He had no idea what he was about to face but the quietening of the tentative bond with his uncle sent a wave of dread through him.

“I can only promise you won’t be alone,” his uncle said.


	31. Chapter 31

Ben’s feet sank into the soft earth of Ach-To. The cool moist air seeped into his heavy black robes and clung to his skin, sending a shiver through him. He looked about at the grey stones, mossy greens and misty sky. He was meant to come here. The place called to him. His legs felt weak and heavy and he knelt, touching the earth beneath him with his gloveless hand. He breathed in and the chilly air, laden with scents of earth and salt, rushed into his lungs without a mask to hinder its passage.

_Ben_

He looked up. Luke was gone. The falcon was gone. He spun around. He was alone.

_Ben_

There was something about the voice. He’d heard it before.

_Don’t you recognise your grandfather yet?_

Ben gasped and laughed at the same time. He looked about. Where are you?

  _Waiting for you but there’s someone you need to meet first._

The cries of winged creatures and a chill wind blowing in his hair told him he was back. It was just a moment, whisked away by the force.

“Grandfather,” Ben said. Luke was there again, watching him, a knowing look in his eye and a smile playing about his mouth.

“Do you hear his voice,” Ben said.

“Yes, we talk,” Luke said, a faraway look in his eyes.

“I thought you mostly spoke to Obi-Wan and Yoda,” Ben said. Luke looked away.

“These years since you...were gone, we’ve spoken more.” Ben felt his mouth drop open. He wanted to ask what they spoke about, was it him. Ben felt a yearning and fear to know what his uncle knew about Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker. He’d never given him the chance before. He hadn’t given any of his family the chance to tell him their side when the truth had come out. He thought he’d known it all before from what Snoke and the Knights of Ren had told him. He suppressed the anger he felt at Snoke for the way he’d been used, determined now to speak to his uncle about his grandfather.

His uncle looked sad and Ben felt it then, a trembling in the force about his uncle like he was fighting and winning a battle while he stood there but a battle none-the-less. Ben knew it was because of him. He looked down at himself, realising that his appearance was probably bringing back bad memories and all his questions died. He stood there uncertain what to do next.  

“Your mother still had the old robes she was going to give you when you were made a full Jedi Knight. She packed them for you. They’ll work better in this place than the black robes of Ren,” Luke said. Ben wrapped his arms about himself. He’d hidden in these robes for years. They’d meant something once but now…he reached up and removed the collar about his neck. He paused. Once he might have felt exposed but now it felt like freedom. These robes had once been a source of power for Kylo Ren, intimidating others but there was no-one here to intimidate. Now they just imprisoned Ben Solo.

He strode back into the Falcon and found the bag his mother had brought. When he pulled out the deep blue and maroon robes inside he stared at them, running his fingers over the fabric. The material was sturdy as it should be for a Jedi robe but he could tell it was expensive and it felt soft compared to his black robes. These robes still felt new, as though she’d been keeping them safe for his return. He buried his face in them. They had a faint smell of her on them and he breathed it in with a shaky breath.

He was in a frenzy now as he ripped off the black constrictive robes, everything down to his undergarments. He even kicked off his boots. He tossed his old robes all to one side and reached for the new clothes. There were brown pants and new boots and a soft grey undershirt. With a reverent tremor he swept the Jedi robes about him, crossing them over at the front and fastening the brown belt with its clip for his lightsabre. His breath caught in his throat. He never thought he’d ever wear anything like this again. He’d given himself over so completely to the Knights of Ren, Snoke and the power of the dark he fully expected to appear as a black spectre for the remainder of his days as his grandfather had.

_Even I took off the mask at the end._

When he picked up his lightsabre it looked at odds with the Jedi robes. Hesitantly he clipped it to the belt. Perhaps one day he would build a new one. Ben buried his hands in the dark blue and maroon fabric. Everything was changing about him. Like he’d turned a corner and was now walking off in a new and unexpected direction. A direction he had no idea in which way it led. He thought of Rey and chewed his lip. He couldn’t expect her to be on his path. She had her own path. His heart wrestled with his head though and he couldn’t stop a glimmer of hope from shining in her direction. Would she see him differently now? Before he knew it a dark part still within him began to plan by whatever means possible to keep her by his side. He felt for the bond that had been growing between them, in spite of Snoke’s attempts to break it, but she was too far away. He took a breath and told himself not to hope.

He looked out of the Falcon’s exit at the blue, grey, green world beyond. It was not helping to pine over Rey. He was here for a reason and he needed to face it. He straightened his back and strode out of the Falcon. His uncle had gone ahead, taking an old worn stone stairway up the hill. Ben followed past sharp jutting rocks and little green mounds of plants covered in tiny white flowers. The new robes, lighter than the black robes, were also warmer and freer to move in. He felt like he could be a boy again and skip his way up to where his uncle walked in easy strides towards the top.

Half way up was a strange feature he didn’t recognise at first as being a living thing, or at least it was once. Its ancient broken trunks looked like the rocks about it at first glance; the greyed patina of its surface blending in but it was soon obvious that it was what remained of an ancient tree. Who knew how old it was. A sense of awe came over him. This must be the original Force Tree. He could feel it. Even though it appeared to be dead he could still feel the force gather about it.

As he drew closer he saw someone sitting at the foot of the tree. A person swathed in an old grey robe held tightly about them, face covered. Ben looked to where Luke had almost reached the top of the first rise and wondered if he’d seen the person sitting at the bottom of the tree.

When he reached the tree he stopped and left the path to come and stand where the person sat on a soft green mound. Whoever they were they had shown no indication that they even knew Ben was there.  

“Hello,” Ben said. The person pulled back the hood, its folds sitting back and framing the face as it looked up at him. An old woman, her skin creased with deep wrinkles and a scar above her right eye. Her eyes were a faded colour he couldn’t quite see but they were still filled with the bright spark of life. Her hair was all grey, fading to white and pulled back in a tight bun, practical in every way for a Jedi. There was something about the shape of the face, the eyes, the mouth that seemed familiar but he couldn’t place it.

“Ah, there you are. Come and sit with me and we can talk.” Ben hesitated. The old woman smiled.

“I know, you don’t recognise me like this but this is how you need to see me for now. You’ll get used to it.”

Ben stepped closer and sat on a rock facing her.

“Who are you?” he said. She smiled again but this time it was more like a smug grin.

“Apparently this is not about me, it’s about you. You came here for a reason Ben and you need to find out that reason.”

Ben scowled. “I came here because my uncle kidnapped me and brought me here.”

The old woman laughed, a sound that sent strange but familiar vibrations through him. He did know her but only because the force told him so, not because of what his eyes were showing him.

“Kidnapping. You’ve done a bit of that yourself haven’t you Ben,” the old woman scolded with a smirk on her face. Ben’s mouth dropped open. The sparkle in her eyes making him look away as a wave of heat washed across his face. He had a weird feeling she was flirting with him.

“Oh dear, I’ve made you uncomfortable.” This time her laugh was more like an old woman’s cackle.

“Who are you?” he demanded as he stood up. Her smile was gone.

“Who are you Ben Solo?” She waved a hand out towards the sea and the world grew dark and rainy. Ben froze as he saw in the finest details once again the scene at the Jedi Academy. A young woman, Nara, screamed at him. Caught off guard Ben stumbled back. He went for his lightsabre but stopped himself. This was the past. He was watching himself with the other Knights of Ren at the Academy.

“I will never follow the Knights of Ren or Snoke. I will die before I accept the dark side.” Others stood behind her, the younger and less experienced who were still loyal to his uncle. Ben felt again the initial terror that he was going to have to come good on his threat to kill those who refused to turn away from his uncle. He ignited the new lightsabre he’d been working on in secret. He would show them that fighting him was useless.

Instead of fearing him the red blade galvanised their resistance. He’d reached for the power of the dark.

Ben wept as he watched the massacre again. He killed Nara. They had been friends. He killed Salwara and Ga’Niil. He wept for the younger ones. Why had the younger ones been so determined to remain loyal to Luke? He wept as he watched a boy become not a man but a monster as Rey had called him. With every padawan that fell a dark wound ripped deeper and deeper into his heart. He clutched his chest, his gut roiling with revulsion at himself.

“Why? Why show me this?”

He heard his uncle’s scream behind him and turned to see him standing now in the rain, the burning Academy behind lighting up his silhouette. The explosion hadn’t killed him. For a moment he was relieved but he quashed the sensation and steeled himself for the inevitable confrontation. He’d made a choice. He’d believed Snoke. He’d chosen to become Kylo Ren and do what Snoke said needed to be done.

Ben bowed his head. He’d been wrong. So very wrong.

“Luke could have killed you that night Ben but he didn’t. He will always regret the lives that were lost to save yours,” the old woman said. Ben fell to his knees and looked at the fallen bodies in the rain. There were so many. His uncle had retreated and Ben’s victory had felt empty.

“I wanted him to see. I wanted them to see.”

“See what Ben.” Ben shook his head. He wanted them to see they didn’t need to be afraid of the dark side. They could put things right. They could be who they were meant to be. He thought he’d found his strength and that they could find theirs. He saw it now for what it was. He’d given into his fears and those fears had fed a rage that dealt out only death and destruction. Nothing had been put right. Instead he’d been a pawn in Snoke’s game of power and possession. His fears had not gone away. They’d morphed into other fears, undermining his strength and leaving him easily manipulated and weak in the most essential way, weak in his humanity. Time and again he’d fought back down the light within him, not understanding why it crept back in all the time. It was his true self that wouldn’t die. All this time he’d been afraid of himself, the one person he would never stop being. He covered his face with his hands and turned away from the images.

“Stand and watch Ben Solo. There is more to see,” the old woman said.

“No.” Ben howled out his bitterness. He knew what she would show him. He’d seen his father die again and again in his own mind. His hands were not in his control though, whisked away from his face. He saw his life as though it were a holovid, scene after scene of death and destruction until the night of the village on Jakku and once again he watched the death of innocents.

“Stop,” he screamed at the old woman when he stood before his father on the bridge. He shoved his fist in his mouth as he watched the blade ignite. Bit into his flesh as his father touched his face and then fell away. In the last moment he reached for him but he was already falling.

Ben looked at the old woman.

“I’m so sorry.”

“I know.”

Ben was silent.

“Must I face this for the rest of my life,” he said.

“You have learned the value of life Ben Solo,” she replied.

“I’ve learned that the dark side only takes from those who turn to it.”

“Life takes from us Ben but the dark side never gives back.”

Ben’s shoulders sagged and he bowed his head. It was true. His uncle had used the light to build a dream into reality and in his selfishness Ben had torn down the reality with the dark and left it as a bad dream. He saw again each needless loss of life replaying, each one ripping into his heart until the final blow when his father fell.

“I will never be free of this pain. I will never be free of this monster.”

“This is who you are Ben Solo.”

“No. That was Kylo Ren. I’m not him anymore.” Ben was going to leave behind his old life of empty destiny that was nothing more than a lie Snoke had used to control him. He wanted a life that was about compassion and light not the power of the dark. The old woman stared at him, her gaze as unyielding as it was soft. Her voice held a gentle rebuke.

“Aren’t you,” she said. Ben could barely stay upright, his mind in a whirl while his pulse thundered in his head. He nearly toppled backwards when new images flew up before him of places and faces he’d never seen. His lightsabre sometimes red, sometimes white, ending life after life. He tried to cover his ears against the screams of the dead and dying but it was useless. He closed his eyes but the scenes still played in his head. The monster was killing again, whether he was called Kylo Ren or Ben Solo didn’t matter. This spectre of himself walked through a valley of death, it’s shadow forever at his heel as each life fell beneath the swing of glowing death.

“What is this? Who are these people? This can’t be right.”

“This is who you are Ben Solo.”

Ben crumpled, sharp stones biting into his hands as they hit the ground. He looked up at the old woman, begging her.

“No. I turned away from Snoke and the dark side. I’ve learned my lesson. I don’t want to be this murderer anymore.”

“You cannot avoid it Ben Solo. You will be the man who you see before you.” Ben sat back on his heels and wrapped his arms about himself shaking his head.

“No. No. No.”

“Stand up Ben Solo. This is who you are.”

He didn’t know how long he crouched on the ground but the old woman was patient. His deepest fears began to leak out. He was never good enough to serve the light. He would never be the person his uncle or his mother wanted him to be. He could never be with Rey as his heart longed for. He was steeped in blood and death and he would never be rid of its stain.

_I love you more than that._

Ben froze. His father’s words again. Words that reached deep into his being to a place where he could still feel his father’s love. A place still lit by that pearl of light, his grandfather’s light.

“It’s not your grandfather’s light anymore Ben. It’s your light and it’s growing. It’s becoming strong again.”

Ben swallowed and looked down at his hands. They were clean and white, not covered in blood as he expected.

“Stand up Ben Solo and see who it is you are.”

He trembled within as he did as he was bid. He shut his eyes until he was on his feet, standing ready. If he was meant to be a monster for the rest of his life then so be it. Luke had said this place would banish the darkness in him or consume him. If it was the second then so be it.

“Snoke was right about one thing Ben. You do have a destiny, although you might not see it as great as the vision he spun for you,” the old woman said.

“What if I refuse? I can make my own destiny. I can cut myself off from the force and never interfere with it again. No-one will die then.” Ben felt like a fool as the words came out of his mouth. Hadn’t he thought to make his own destiny before? And how had that turned out?

“You can choose that life but it too will have consequences.”

Ben shook his head. He was wary of such simple choices. Snoke had made it all seem so simple, until it wasn’t. No. The force wouldn’t show him a future that wasn’t meant to be. He died a little as he resigned himself to that fact. 

He opened his eyes once again as the scenes of death appeared before him again. Life after life cut down by his own hand filled his vision. He felt like an empty shell as all his dreams of light and life faded as the automaton in his shape wielded the lightsabre.

“Look closer Ben Solo,” the old woman said.

“Why? Is this some kind of tutorial on how to commit murder? I think I know well enough how to do it by now.” His voice was filled with the bitter disappointment of knowing the monster in him would never die, the monster that had been there even before Snoke provoked it.

“Look closer Ben.”

He shook his head but did as he was told. He watched himself stand before a man…a man who served only himself. Ben scowled. A man who had hurt and killed many, just like he had under Snoke’s will. Ben shook his head. Should he not have compassion and try to show him the way of the light. Ben had finally seen it, the deception of the soul that came with easy power. But the man resisted and in the end he died on Ben’s blade. Then it was a woman and the same happened. Then another man. Each time it was the same. Someone with great evil would come before him and he would end their life. His sabre would swing, sometimes red and sometimes white, and then they would die.

“What purpose does this serve? Don’t they have the right to turn back to the light?”

“Look behind you Ben Solo.” He hung his head for a moment knowing the death and destruction that must lie in his wake. With a heavy heart and slow movements he turned to survey the damage.

Light broke out before him and he put up his hand to shade his eyes.

“Where is this light coming from?”

“It grows now that which kept it bound is gone.” Ben stared as his eyes grew used to the light. It was like stars that grew and swirled.

“The hearts of those you freed. Their lives are small and insignificant to some but the force exists in more than just those who can wield its power.”

“What?”

“You destroyed the dark to let the light grow. You are like a scythe cutting away those who hinder and oppress the light which is life.”

He reached out in wonder as the light curled about him and rested upon his hand, crawling up in tickling waves about his arm. He laughed for the sheer joy of it. He hadn’t done that in a very long time.

Ben grew serious.

“But I will still be a murderer,” he said.

“Each one must die to the dark side. Some will be slain in the flesh, it is true, but not all. Some will turn back to the light. Seek the will of the force and it will show you.”

Ben shook his head. “What do you mean?”

The old woman looked at him with longing in her eyes. Ben felt again that he should know her but something wasn’t quite right, as though there were a displacement in time that had left him behind. She lifted a hand and touched the scar on his face with the tips of her fingers.

“You are so beautiful. My heart has always been captured by you, even when I hated you.”

Ben could only stare at her. He knew her. Why didn’t he recognise her? She turned a little and he could see her eyes clearer in the light, a soft hazel colour. She scrunched her nose up as bright light fell across her face. His heart stalled and then raced. His voice came out no more than a whisper.

“Rey?”

She smiled. “Ah, you see me now.” She laughed again. “You’ll look old too when you get here Ben.”

Ben could only stare with an open mouth.

“When I get there.” A cold hand clenched at his heart as realisation hit him. “You go before me.”

Rey shook her head, her face full of tender concern. “Look at me Ben, it’ll be a long time yet and you not long after me.”

He reached out to her and saw his own hand, skin mottled and thin with age, fingers bony. She stepped closer and he took her hand, holding it to his chest. She slid an arm about his waist and leant her forehead on his chest. He wrapped his other arm about her shoulders and held her tight.

“I love you Ben,” she said.

He tried to hold on to her but felt her disappear from his grasp. He stood there, his hands clenched against his chest, lost for a moment.

“Ben.” It was his uncle. He turned and felt the chill of the Ahch-To air on his face. He blinked. His uncle wasn’t as far ahead as he’d thought.

“I should have warned you about that tree. I’ve been ambushed by more than one vision there.”

Ben looked about. The position of the sun was different.

“How long have I been standing here?”

“More than an hour.”

Ben’s mouth fell open. He looked back at the tree, staring at the old broken branches. The light grew dim as mist encroached upon the sun. No-one sat by its base. An ache throbbed in his heart. Was it really Rey he’d spoken to? A shiver took him by surprise. She said she loved him. She never said anything about a life together. At least they’d both grown old.

The life she’d shown him was a contradiction. Death to bring life. He shook his head. The monster within would never die. Kylo Ren would always be there, harnessed within and let out when Ben Solo willed. Without any doubts he knew it was a life of heartache and struggle to keep a hold of the light and serve it in spite of the darkness within, a life of being torn apart. There was no easy power in it. No greatness. Whatever light there was would benefit others. He thought of Rey and her light. The thought of her not being there with him sucked away all his courage. He couldn’t do it without her. Yes, she said she loved him but she’d also said she hated him.

He felt again her touch on his face, her fingers upon the scar she’d made. He sucked in a shaky breath. She never said she _wouldn’t_ be there with him. Hope as always grew in his heart and he expected it to trip him up and send him back to his knees. So he let go his hopes for her. He would be happy if she was there somewhere. Even if they were just friends, there was a bond between them. Her light could still always be there even if he had to let her go.

He turned back to his uncle…who was standing there with that sceptical look on his face that reminded him of his early days of training at the Academy. Ben had been worried about disappointing Luke back then. And of course he had, in a way far greater than anyone could have imagined. Ben swallowed, and tensed under his uncle’s stare.

“Come on, Ben. We can’t stand about all day. It seems you have a vision that needs to be written down,” his uncle said, that schoolmaster tone in his voice that he recognised from his teen years. Ben scowled. His uncle’s insistence on writing down every scrap of vision had been more than a trial. Was his uncle trying to test him? Until now there had been forgiveness, respect and caring. Now perhaps Luke had decided there had been enough compassion. Force knows he didn’t deserve any.

“Yes, uncle,” he said in a dutiful voice. They looked at each other. His uncle’s eye’s narrowed just a little but his expression remained inscrutable. Ben had the sense there was something afoot that would end up testing both of them. That old force bond he’d once had with his uncle quivered, perhaps it wasn’t so dead. It wasn’t as strong as the bond he felt with Rey but it was still there. Maybe his uncle was just good at hiding himself and his emotions, except for those rare moments. His uncle turned and began to once again ascend the stairs up the hill. Ben squared his shoulders and told himself he could handle anything his uncle dished out and followed.


	32. Chapter 32

Rey looked about. Outside the prison the alarm grew louder. A foot soldier jogged past.

“Hey, what’s going on?” she said. The foot soldier stopped and turned just as General Organa, Poe and the others began emerging from the prison. The soldier looked confused at first then relieved when he saw the General. He stood to attention and saluted.

“Report,” the General said.   

“General, an intruder has been detected on the base. We believe there is a ship hidden on the outskirts of the base in the desert where the intruder is heading.”

“It’s Gem,” Rey said. “We need to stop her.” A fear began to gnaw in the back of her mind. Was her mother really still alive and was Gem going to Skath Holding to find her or to Ahch-To? What would she do? Rey tried to concentrate on what she’d gleaned from Hux’ mind but it was clear he didn’t really know who the force sensitive prisoner was that was held in the bottom of the prison. It was important to Snoke the person be kept there. That was all.

Rey breathed in and reminded herself that people’s lives depended on her. Ben and Luke depended on her.

“Where’s BB-8. I need to get up there and see what’s going on,” Poe said. As if on cue a beep and warble sounded at the end of the corridor. As always, Rey felt that little surge of joy when BB-8 showed up and bleeped and whistled his greeting. Poe took a step towards the corridor but stopped and turned.

“General,” he said, waiting for permission.

“Go,” Leia replied and waved him on.

Poe turned back to the corridor and BB-8 but before he could take another step he nearly fell over Imri. She had stepped between Poe and his flight to his X-wing, her eyes locked with Poe’s and her face determined. Poe did his best not to fall on top of her. Rey nearly laughed at the shocked expression on his face and his awkward attempt not to trip. Rey’s mouth dropped open at the Twi lek’s next move.

Imri reached up, gripped the front of his shirt, pulled him down to her and kissed him. Poe was frozen for a moment then, as if he’d forgotten where he was, he closed his eyes and his hands settled on Imri’s blue shoulders.  

BB-8 beeped and Leia coughed. Imri let him go and Poe, unsteady on his feet as Imri straightened his shirt, stared at her like he’d had a revelation.  

“Just in case you were thinking of forgetting me if we don’t meet again,” she said.

“I would never forget you,” he said, his voice uncharacteristically deep. Imri backed away, eyes still locked with his. Poe stood there for a moment then realised everyone was watching him. His face pinked up as he looked about. Phasma in particular huffed and looked at the ceiling. Rey couldn’t help remembering how Ben had kissed her like that, in front of everyone with no thought to who was watching. Something she was not sure she wanted to tell Leia about. And there had been a mind meddling substance involved.

Poe had trouble getting his words out when he looked back at Imri.

“Um…err. General,” he said and saluted again, even though he wasn’t facing Leia anymore. He let his hand fall away, realising he’d already saluted. He turned and nodded at the General, who looked like she was biting her lip for the same reason Rey was biting hers. Rey forced down a giggle that threatened to explode from her throat. Poe turned away and jogged off down the corridor towards BB-8. He stopped and looked back at Imri before he turned and disappeared around the corner.

There was a moment of silence.

“Imri Hallomy, you’re a bad influence on Commander Dameron,” Leia groused. The Twilek looked too smug to have taken Leia’s rebuke seriously. Leia shook her head.

“Now, about getting off this planet,” Leia said. Rey swallowed.

“We really need to go as soon as possible. Once they’ve destroyed this planet they’ll move on to where Luke and Ben are.”

Leia nodded. Rey wasn’t sure why she didn’t reveal which planet Luke and Ben had gone to. Luke hadn’t wanted others to know until it was time. Maybe that was it. The possibility of her mother being in Skath Holding gnawed at her again. She looked down. For so long she’d waited for a family that was never going to come back. Was it really her mother in that cell Imri had talked about…no, she wouldn’t go chasing a red herring. She had to go to Ahch-To. Ben needed her.

The sound of footsteps came to them from the other corridor. People were heading their way. Rey took up a defensive position at the front but kept her lightsabre at rest in her hand. The last thing they needed was a troop of Thorceline’s soldiers to send them all back into the prison.

Finn and his group came into view and Rey breathed a sigh of relief.

“Rey,” he said, a grin spreading across his face. He beckoned the others to follow, although he eyed both Phasma and Hux with dislike. Phasma ignored him while Hux just stood there looking pale and hollow eyed, supported by his cousin Kari. Finn turned back to General Organa.

“Am I glad to see you.”

“Same,” Leia said. “I want details, fast. What’s happening?”

“We’ve managed to contact Akbar,” Finn said. “The fleet under his command should be arriving any moment. Thorceline and his men are currently in the central area with Ematt and Statura and the others. We’ve sent word around through trusted sources. We’re going to storm Thorceline and his men as soon as you’re out. If you’re there I know we can rally the rest.”

Leia nodded. “Poe has gone to his X-wing. I want him in the air when we do this in case we need air support. Snap and Jessika, I want you two in the air as well. See if you can round up a few more of your squadron but be careful. I don’t want to blow our cover too early.” They saluted and turned to head down the same corridor Poe had gone.

Rey felt a pinpoint of fear and rage in the force. It pulsed out and then turned dark as Rey felt people die. Someone was using the dark side of the force. Leia looked at her, her eyes wide and face paling. She felt it too. Rey knew it was her sister.

“I’ll go,” Rey said. “Leia, make them understand. This planet is lost. Everyone must get off. I’ll try and slow Gem down but don’t wait for me. If I don’t make it…” Rey paused. She needed to tell Leia where Ben and Luke were.

“You’ll make it,” Leia said. There was a certainty to her voice that Rey trusted. She turned and ran the same way Poe had gone. She tried to find her sister, reaching out in the force but just like before a prickling pain stopped her. Rey wondered about something. This prickling pain didn’t feel the way her sister used to. It wasn’t her sister but it was always there when her sister was there. Was it Snoke working through her? Was it something else? Rey honed in on that feeling, pushing at it. It was hard, unyielding, inanimate almost. It also had a location. Rey began to run, fear in her heart.

She burst into the X-wing hangar to find mayhem. People were down. There were shouts and an alarm as well as evidence of blaster fire. She could see a severed limb and lightsabre scarring on a side wall.

Rey looked about for Poe. A body in an orange flight suit lay face down on the hangar floor. Rey sprinted over and knelt beside him.

“Poe,” she called. He was unconscious but mostly unharmed, apart from a graze from a blaster, or maybe a lightsabre on the side of his head. Rey couldn’t be sure. She looked up to see Jessika coming her way but when she saw Rey was with Poe she nodded and went to help others. Her and Snap were rounding people up and getting them to head towards the airfield where the main transports were for the evacuation.

Rey looked down at Poe. She shook his shoulder but he didn’t move. Rey felt an icy hand grip her heart. No. This can’t happen. He was her friend. She’d just watched that crazy TwiLek kiss him. He was supposed to fly about being heroic until the end of the war and then settle down and be happy. 

Rey knew for certain in her heart that Gem had done this.

“Poe, come on. You have to wake up,” she begged. Poe lay motionless. She had to do something. They were running out of time, she could feel it. She didn’t want to waylay the medical team’s efforts to pack and leave.

She thought of Luke and wished that he’d stayed. Her racing mind slowed and flipped up in image. She’d seen Luke touch a lizard once and heal it. What if…Rey put her hand on the side of Poe’s head?

It wasn’t a natural wound. She could feel the dark residue of something evil that had been used against his mind. The darkness in the wound was sucking away at his life. The only thing she could think of to do was to pull the light to him like she’d done to Kylo and banish the dark. She closed her eyes and began to gather the light. The next step wasn’t so easy though and she fought to pull the light into him. She battled to expunge the darkness that had been left behind. It had been so easy when she’d done this with Ben but then there had been a force bond to help her and Ben had literally pulled her to him through their Bond.

It took Rey longer than she’d hoped to pull enough light into Poe. Sweat was starting to bead on her forehead as well. Rey gasped in relief when Poe groaned and moved. Rey helped him to roll over and sit up.

“What happened,” she said. Poe shook his head, blinking as he lifted a hand to his head and winced when he touched the graze there. He looked up at Rey, fear clouding his eyes.

“BB-8. She tried to do something to BB-8,” he said. Rey looked about for the little droid. She couldn’t see it. She stood up and looked at the X-wing. Yes, BB-8 was in place in Poe’s X-wing but was silent and unmoving. Rey climbed up the side and put a hand on the droid. She searched the little droids circuits. He was powered down but undamaged.

“I think he’s ok,” she said. She worked to power up the droid again. When a little beep sounded both of them breathed a sigh of relief.

Poe sat up and looked about. There were another series of beeps. Gem had taken the location of Ahch-To from BB-8.

“More than that,” Rey muttered. “She took a read out of the whole star map.” Rey frowned. Why would Gem want the star map when all she needed was the coordinates? Gem had walked around the Resistance base as though she’d owned the place. Why wouldn’t she just use a computer terminal to get them? Maybe she hadn’t had time and had taken the opportunity to take it when she could get it from BB-8. Still, it was a significant side track to come and find BB-8. Was there something more to that map?

Rey heard the sound of a sub-light engine outside and forgot about the star map. She ran from the hangar but only in time to see an unidentified ship blasting across the desert and up into the sky. Rey cursed under her breath. It had taken precious time to help Poe and BB-8 and now her sister was gone. She couldn’t just leave Poe and BB-8 to die while she chased her sister.

Two X-Wings were powering up and preparing to go after the unidentified ship. Rey thought she could make out the faces of Snap and Jessika as lifted off in their crafts. They wouldn’t get her sister though. Gem had come, taken all that she wanted and left with almost no-one to stop her.

Rey reached out towards the disappearing ship and latched on to the presence within. A mental picture of her sister’s hatred was projected at her, far more painful than the prickling pain that Rey had felt before. Rey still couldn’t fathom her sister’s hatred and withdrew, hurt by it. All she could do was watch as the ship disappeared as it climbed out of the atmosphere.

Rey turned back to Poe. He was climbing into his X-wing.

“Once you’re up there don’t come back down,” Rey said. Poe nodded and Rey turned to go back to the central area of the base.

“Hey,” Poe called behind her. Rey turned. “Thanks,” Poe said and saluted her. Rey nodded and watched as he powered up the X-wing. She backed away as the ship rose up and he edged out into the desert beyond. Rey looked about the hangar. All the dead and wounded had been taken away. She turned and ran back to where Leia, Finn and the others were essentially executing a mutiny.

When she arrived Rey sized up the room. The mutiny was over but there were still a few scuffles happening. Finn and Sanjo were trying to disarm the last of Thorceline’s guards. Phasma was standing guard next to Hux and it seemed a few of Thorceline’s men had slipped in behind her as well. Leia was standing with her officers while Thorceline and a dwindling number of his men faced off against her.

Rey decided she needed to move things along so she ignited her lightsabre and strode towards those still fighting, the glowing blue shaft a beacon of death for anyone not ready to admit defeat. The scuffling guards calmed as all eyes were fixed on the glowing weapon.

Leia, having seen a lightsabre more often than most people in the room, took advantage of the distraction and pointed a blaster at Thorceline. He looked down his nose at her.

“This is treason,” Thorceline snapped.

“This is the Resistance,” Leia said. “And you seem to be a First Order sympathiser.” Thorceline looked incensed.

“How dare you.”

“Bade Waldren is an agent of the First Order and the Knights of Ren and you seem to have cut some kind of deal with him,” she said. Thorceline’s mouth fell open. His eyes flicked around the room, assessing his options and supporters. The look on his face indicated they had evaporated and he knew it. He huffed and put his hands in the air. Finn, Sanjo and several others removed the Republic Guard’s weapons. Rey powered down her sabre when she was sure there were going to be no more fights.

“I accept your surrender to face whatever justice the Republic deems fit,” Leia said, not entirely able to keep the smirk off her face at being able to serve Thorceline up some of his own medicine.

There was no time for a victory dance. There was a buzz and a crackle as a view screen behind the Admiral came to life. The face that came into view was hardened and bitter. She wore a dark hood not unlike Kylo’s, over her head, pulled back just enough for her face to be visible. Rey stared at the face of her sister, skin pale, face gaunt and scarred but still bearing a resemblance to her.  She felt rather than saw the General stiffen next to her.

“General Organa,” Gem said, ignoring Rey. It hurt that her sister would pay no attention to her, just as when they were young but she wasn’t going to let the past cloud the present. She tried again to reach out to Gem.

Instead of the prickling pain she expected Rey felt the force coming alive like a siren. A sound like whispers began to grow inside her mind, as though many voices were trying to say something. Rey knew rather than heard what they were trying to say. Gem’s voice rang out over the top of them.

“I am Sabira Ren and I promise you General Organa, you and yours will soon be dead. I want you to know I will soon kill your traitorous son and your brother, Skywalker. The Supreme Leader will soon have the Republic under his control and all the damage your rebels and resistance fighters have done will be erased under his…”

Rey’s mind was screaming with the warning. But everyone was fixed on the screen, doing nothing. She leapt forward and slashed the screen with her lightsabre. The thing went dead and everyone in the room jolted.

“She’s just wasting time. They’re going to use their weapon. Get to your ships now. Don’t go back for anything. It’s too late. Get out now.”

“What are you talking about,” Thorceline demanded.

“You ever heard of the Rellian project.”

Thorceline’s face paled and he froze.

“They’re going to use it here first and yes, while you’re still on the planet.”

Thorceleine swayed. “Wh..wha..but…but.”

Proximity alarms went off.

“There are enemy ships coming out of hyperspace,” someone called out. More alarms went off.

“Admiral Akbar and his force or coming out of hyperspace.”

Leia didn’t hesitate. She barked out a command in a voice long practiced at garnering obedience.

“Everyone, get to your ships and get off this planet. Now!”

“Where’re we going,” someone called out.

“We’ll figure that out when get off this rock with our atoms intact,” Leia shouted.

The room turned into ordered chaos as people began to run for their ships. Rey realised she didn’t know which way she was going. She looked about for Finn.

He had a blaster pointed at Phasma.

“You’re not taking Hux,” he growled. Imri had her blaster pointed at Finn. Hux clung to Phasma in a panic, while his cousin tried to pull him with her.

“We don’t have time for this,” Imri yelled. The Captain and her former Stormtrooper just glared at each other.

Rey strode forward.

“Phasma, we’re coming with you. Get moving.” Finn and Phasma stared at her, mouths open.

“What,” they said together.

“Just in case you were thinking of taking Hux,” she said. Finn grinned up at Phasma.

“I am not…” Phasma began. Rey raised her lightsabre again and pointed it at her chest, where it buzzed menacingly below her chin. Without her armour the woman knew she was outmanoeuvred. She snarled and turned away, dragging Hux with her and by default, Kari as well.

It wasn’t long before they were all running towards to the airfield.

Solia and Sanjo emerged out of the chaos, standing still.

“Rey, have you seen my father,” Solia said. Rey stopped and looked about. Mikalas was not in sight.

“Maybe he went back to get the data pad. It has all our research on it.”

“I’ll find him,” Rey said. “You and Sanjo go with Finn.”

Solia nodded. Rey made a quick dash back to look for the elder Dastronian. With relief she saw him emerging from the corridor that led to the medical unit.

“Mikalas. The First Order are here and they plan to destroy everything on the planet. We have to get off now. Solia and Sanjo are headed out to a ship now.” Mikalas didn’t take much to convincing. If his children were leaving so was he. He followed her without question.

They soon caught up to Solia and Sanjo and the others.

“Father,” Solia cried out in the chaos. Rey and Mikalas headed straight for her. Solia hugged her father then looked down at his hands, a frown on her face.

“Where’s the data pad. Father, all your research.” Mikalas waved a dismissive hand.

“It doesn’t matter Solia. Our lives are more important,” he said.

“No. We need it,” Solia said and before anyone could stop her she dashed away.

“Solia,” her father yelled. “Leave it. Come back.”

“It’s too late,” Rey shouted at the retreating figure. Rey was torn between going after the young woman who had healed her and getting everyone else on a ship. With growing horror, Rey knew if anyone went back they would perish. She looked at Sanjo and Mikalas. They were frozen in fear.

“Get to the ship now. We’ll wait as long as we can for her,” Rey said. Even as she said it she knew it was a ploy to get them out.

“We have to wait. Father, we have to wait,” Sanjo said. Rey looked at Mikalas. He knew it was too late too. Rey nearly came undone as she watched the man make the most wretched of decisions. Save his son or lose everything. Mikalas closed his eyes then turned and dragged his son with him towards the exit. Rey took Sanjo’s other arm when he began to struggle and dragged him with her too.

“We have to wait for her,” Sanjo wailed.

“We’ll wait for her as long as we can,” Rey said. They all knew it was an empty promise but they clung to it anyway. Sanjo let himself be pulled towards the exit and towards Phasma’s ship. One of her crew had landed it closer to the exit of the base after Thorceline’s ship had gone. Finn appeared at her side again.

“We got the General, Ematt and Statura on Thorceline’s ship. They’ll make sure he doesn’t skive off,” Finn said. Rey nodded but turned to look back. Solia still wasn’t in view.

“Please, don’t go without her,” Sanjo said.

“Where’s Solia,” Finn said.

“She went back for her data pad before we could stop her,” Rey said. There was a blast as another ship left the base. X-wings and A-wings were lifting off as they spoke.

Rey turned back to the ship and its occupants that had first started it all. Phasma had lost her dress and was being helped into the final pieces of her armour by one of her crew.

Rey turned and looked at the sky. She could feel it before she could see it. Finn looked up as well. She knew he could feel it too. The force seemed to recede then rush forward like a tsunami. A red glow pulsed across the sky, followed by a thunderous rumbling.

“That’s it. We have to go,” Phasma yelled. “Get on the ship or stay behind.”

“No. We have to wait for her,” Sanjo begged. Mikalas just kept pulling his son towards Phasma’s ship, shaking, his mouth clamped shut.

The red glow grew deeper. Rey and Mikalas dragged Sanjo up the ramp. Finn was already in. Hux was already shackled up front with Kari by his side. Imri was at the controls. The crew were taking up positions. Imri lifted the ship off the ground.

Solia emerged from the bunker exit, running.

“Solia, hurry,” Sanjo shouted. For a moment Rey thought she might make it. Mikalas turned and for a moment hope bloomed in his eyes but then the red wave rose up in the sky, deadly, menacing and too close. Imri hit the engines and the ship began to lift away to safety.

“No,” Sanjo said. Rey looked about for a rope anything to throw down to her but there was nothing. The buildings shattered, bits flying past Solia’s running figure.

Sanjo lunged forward. For a moment Rey thought he was going to jump from the ship as it rose but instead he positioned himself on the ramp to stop it from closing then reached out with his hands. Rey felt the force flow to and through him as in desperation he tried to use it to lift his sister from the ground up to the ship. He was using the technique Rey had taught him to lift boxes. Rey added her own power to his in the hope of saving her. She increased the power as Solia began to rise from the ground, her hands outstretched, reaching for her brother.

A spike from the red wave reacted to their use of the force and became a tendril that shot out in front of the wave. Solia screamed as it rose up about her legs. They pulled harder but two things happened that Rey hadn’t counted on. It slowed the ship and the tendril appeared to climb up the pull of the force they were using. Rey knew they would all die if they continued. Solia did too. She looked at Sanjo then across at Rey as though giving her permission. Rey let out a sobbing cry as she cut off the force and dove for Sanjo, tackling him to the ground and stopping him from using the force too. Rey could feel the tendril fall away and the ship shot forward up out of the way of the deadly wave, the exit ramp closing up. Solia was gone.

Sanjo screamed in rage and shoved Rey aside. He leapt up, his face red, fists balled and his mouth wide as he roared at her.

“Why did you do that? We had her.”

Rey lay on the floor of the ship numb, covering her face with her hands. Sanjo attacked, grabbing her shoulders, lifting her and banging her head against the floor. Rey was too devastated by what had just happened to fight back. Mikalas and Finn both pulled him off her before he could smash her head on the floor again. Phasma was also there restraining him. It only served to fuel his rage further as he fought them.

“Get off me. She left her. She saved you and you left her. You promised.”

“Son, stop it,” Mikalas yelled. Sanjo continued to struggle. “Sanjo, we would have all died. Couldn’t you feel it? Couldn’t you see it? You weren’t pulling her up. It was pulling us back.”

Sanjo ignored his father’s words, his grief and rage overtaking him with Rey as its target.

“I hate you,” he yelled at Rey. “I don’t want to be your student. I don’t ever want to train with you.” Rey understood his need to lash out but it still hurt. Leaving Solia behind to die was ripping her apart. Yes, she had saved the rest of them but it still shattered her inside to leave a friend behind.

Mikalas spoke to Sanjo with harsh tones in a language she didn’t recognise. Only Sanjo seemed to recognise it by the other blank looks about her. Sanjo stopped struggling, his chest still heaving with emotion and stared at his father, seeing the agony reflected in his eyes as his anger ebbed. Rey could feel the searing loss, sharp and welling from deep within them as Sanjo fell to his knees and Mikalas wrapped his arms about his son.

Rey finally broke into sobs as well as father and son held each other and wept. Two strong arms picked her up and wrapped her against a warm and solid chest. Finn. She clung to him as sobs rose up and choked her.

They didn’t have long to think of their grief though. The ship was rocked by laser fire. Phasma returned to the cockpit now that Sanjo wasn’t going to cause any more trouble. Rey could hear Phasma and Imri’s voices, sharp with worry as they dodged laser fire.

“The whole First Order must be up here,” Imri said. “We need to get out of here.”

Rey pushed away from Finn and strode towards the front of the ship. She could see it, the Rellian project. An array of dark ships, all shaped in a cross like Ben’s lightsabre. There were eight of them in a circular formation, the longer sections of the ships pointing inwards. A stream of red twisting force came from each of them and met in the centre. The beams twisted together and then dove towards the planet, red and ragged, also like Ben’s sabre.

There was a bank of First Order ships protecting the formation. The fighters were not getting through. The bigger ships on both sides were locked in battle as well.

A light flashed on the flight deck and Phasma tapped it.

“There’s a message. It’s General Organa. She wants to know where Master Luke is.”

Rey knew she had to get them out of there and soon but something hard and angry rose up in her heart. In a second it had turned dark and ugly.

“Gem. She’s responsible for this.” Rey had always looked up to her sister but she could see it now how much Gem must hate her. Hatred began to crystallise in Rey’s heart. She knew it was wrong. It wasn’t the Jedi way but Rey had lost so much because of her. Rey slammed her eyes shut and pushed out with the force, looking for her sister. She found the prickling, painful presence almost immediately. It was hate filled and cold.

The ship was rocked again by laser cannon but Rey ignored it. She pushed against the pain that surrounded her sister, slashing with the force to get at her presence.

“I know you’re out there sister. You did this.”

A snicker and the presence withdrew.

“Come back Gem and face me.”

“Rey we need a heading. We need to go,” Phasma yelled.

“We can’t stay here. We may as well have stayed on the planet if we’re just going to die here anyway.”

Rey pushed away everything but the raging desire to seek out her sister’s presence and deal some kind of blow back again.

“Rey.” It was Finn. “Where did Master Luke say we had to go?” Rey ignored him, still pushing out with the force, looking for her sister.

Sanjo pulled away from his father and leapt towards her, hitting her shoulders with his palms and putting her off balance before Finn could stop him. “Tell us where to go Rey or my sister died for nothing.”

Sanjo’s words got through. They burned her conscience. What right did she have to put everyone in danger while she pursued her own agenda? With a sob Rey let go her rage and the force.

“Ahch-To. We have to go to Ahch-To,” she said. Rey pulled away from Finn’s hand on her shoulder and turned away from everyone. She moved away to the back of the ship again and crouched down to lean against the fuselage, her face in her hands. Her tears had dried up in the heat of her rage against Gem. She pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms about them as she felt the ship go into hyperspace. She didn’t want to talk to anyone or even acknowledge they were there. All she wanted was to find her sister and make her pay for everything she’d done.

 

 


	33. Chapter 33

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi All. Two things - sorry for the late posting but I rewrote this chapter 3 times (and could have kept fiddling but one has to let go sometime). Second. Thanks for getting this fic to over 6000 hits. Love to you all.

The weather on the island had turned feral. Cold sleeting winds cut their way into the crumbling edifices of the temple. They had built a driftwood fire in the ancient fire pit in the center of the temple where Luke’s restoration efforts had been concentrated. Cold gusts still snuck through from the gaps and doorless halls further back in the temple causing the fire to bank and smoke.

The swirling temperatures under this central dome of the temple made Ben uncomfortable. The force lingered in the ageing stone hallways like an elusive creature, only to be coaxed out with patience. The power he wanted slipped through Ben’s grasp as he manipulated it and yet it congregated around his uncle like it recognised an old friend. He was a boy again trying to figure out what to do with this thing that responded to him in unexpected ways at unexpected times.

Ben sat in a meditation pose and concentrated on recalling the vision. He could see old Rey’s outline but her face was unclear. He saw the swinging lightsabre but he wasn’t sure what colour it was. He focussed on each image but they would move away the harder he tried. A bead of sweat trickled down his forehead and hung off the inside corner of his eyebrow. He tried to ignore it as the vision in his mind focussed just a little more. The drop slipped down into his eye, the salt irritating the sensitive membranes, and the images blurred. Ben hissed and clenched his fists. This was easy for him yet his concentration was non-existent. At least he’d written down the vision from memory for his uncle but Ben wanted to see it again. There was more to see and know if he could just…

“You come to the force with an expectation of what you want it to do for you but you don’t seek the will of the force itself,” his uncle said. The images vanished and Ben growled.

“I can’t do anything with you hovering uncle,” he said. The moment he said the words Ben regretted them. Luke was silent and still, too still. Ben got that feeling again that his uncle was battling beneath the calm façade. Ben didn’t want to pry along their old bond but he could guess what it was.

“You hate me being here don’t you,” Ben said. Luke remained frozen. Ben turned to look at him and caught the look of anguish on his face. His composure returned in a flash though and he smiled but Ben could still feel that uneasy flutter from his uncle. Ben sighed.

“I’m sorry uncle. I only know how to bring people pain,” he said. Luke smiled.

“There was a time when you brought us all great joy. Perhaps...” Luke shuddered and pressed his lips together, his words dying before they were spoken.

Ben felt the weight on his heart grow heavier. He didn’t know if it was the right thing to have come here with his uncle. He couldn’t return to where he’d come from but he didn’t feel like he belonged here either.

“You have to trust him Luke.”

Ben jumped up and looked about. He saw him, cloaked in the light of the force as he emerged from a gloomy hallway. He recognised him from before and felt a surge of elation.

“Grandfather.”

Luke scowled and huffed. Ben frowned as he looked between his uncle and the ghost of Anakin Skywalker. What was going on?

“Son, you need to trust me as well. Do you think I wouldn’t know when the time was right? “Luke’s hooded gaze as he watched his father matched the ripple of anger that Ben felt through the force.

“I trusted you with him before,” his uncle muttered.

“I know but sometimes the long way home is the fastest way to get there.”

 The ageless figure of his grandfather stood in front of his uncle and rested a hand on his shoulder.

“Trust him Luke. Snoke’s hold on him is broken.” Father and son looked at each other. There was something deep and abiding between them that made Ben ache for the things he’d never had nor ever would have with his own father.

When they both turned to him Ben trembled. He looked between them. The unknowable look on his grandfather’s face was reflected in the blank peaceable expression of his uncle.

“You’re both hiding something,” Ben said. Luke sighed and shook his head.

“Not hiding, just wishing we could have had more time to help you heal.”

“What are you saying Uncle Luke.” A feeling of Déjà vu overtook him. Was it his lot in life to find out dark things that had been kept from him?

Luke’s face grew hard.

“Snoke has no intention of just letting you go Ben. He intends to take you back. He intends to come here and force your return to his side.”

An icy blast from Starkiller itself hit him, sending a shock through his body. He rocked back and dragged in a shuddering breath. He imagined the earth opening up beneath him, like a giant maw ready to devour him. Foolish boy, Ben. Did you think you could just leave and that would be it? Ben had always been a fool. That’s why he had to become Kylo Ren. But Kylo Ren had ripped his life to shreds. Ben didn’t know who he was meant to be anymore. Only that vision… and Rey. Maybe.

“There’s more,” Luke said. Ben shivered, the cold biting deeper into him, turning his blood to ice. He stepped back again.

“I knew he would come for you so that’s why I brought you here,” Luke said. Ben blinked. What was Luke talking about? Was he some kind of bait? A hook was caught somewhere below his heart, keeping him dangling as it pierced the wounds and scars of his changing heart. He searched his uncle’s face but there was no softness, no reassurance, only a hard blue stare and tense jawline.

Ben looked at his grandfather’s face but his expression was still unknowable.

The image of Snoke’s twisted face and hungry eyes flashed into his mind. Snoke would devour his life again like it was a prize to be gained with no thought for him. Kylo Ren would return to control Ben.

He thought of Rey. He knew he loved her but her feelings were not the same. His mother, even with her there was a yawning gap between them now. His father, the one he’d despised the most had been the only one…but he was gone except for the whispered words and memories in his head.

Ben had never felt so alone, even during the dark days before Rey had brought that bit of light to his life. The darkness was darker it seemed for having known what the light was like.

“This is the safest place for you Ben. This is the place where Snoke’s power over you will be at its weakest. This is where we can defeat Snoke.”

Ben didn’t really hear his uncle’s words. He was a pawn again in the fight between Snoke and Luke, his mother and the First Order. He turned away and strode towards the temple exit. He didn’t want to hear any more about someone else’s plans and expectations for his life. He didn’t get far before his grandfather appeared in front of him. Ben stopped and glared at the ghost of the man he didn’t know but did know.

“Go back Ben. Go back and tell him.”  Ben scowled and stepped back.

“Tell him what.”

“The truth. You have to trust him too.”

Ben shook his head. “What will that do? I didn’t come here to start a fight about the past.”

His grandfather dipped his head and glared at him from beneath his brows.

“Maybe you should.”

A trickle of unease trailed down Ben’s spine. He’d been told about his grandfather’s legendary wrath. His own flashes of temper were nothing by comparison.

“Yes, Ben. You inherited my flair for indulging my anger. I learned to channel my anger into strength but I neglected to balance strength with compassion and suffered the consequences. ”

“Snoke always said compassion was weakness.” His grandfather lifted his head and Ben had that impression of agelessness again.

“There is no weakness in compassion Ben. Luke showed me this before it was too late. Go back and talk to him.”

Ben shook his head.

“I feel so alone.” His grandfather placed a hand on his shoulder in the same way he’d done with his uncle. The touch warmed the cold ache of loneliness in his heart.

“You’re not alone. You never were. Snoke surrounded you like a snake, isolated you and kept you from the love of your family. He fed your fears and turned you against them. If you leave now nothing will change.”

Ben shook his head. Everyone he listened to said something different. He closed his eyes and just tried to feel the force. Where was it taking him? The images from the tree grew bright in his mind. He had his own path and it belonged to him. Not Snoke or anyone else. It was about time he took hold of his life for himself. If he was going to seek the will of the force as old Rey had told him then he needed to seek guidance from the only one he knew could help him. He straightened his shoulders, took a calming breath and turned and strode back down the corridor.

He didn’t see his grandfather fold his arms across his chest and grin nor hear the words of an old master. “Told you, I did.”

When he got back to his uncle, Luke stood beneath the dome. A beam of light shone down from the center of the dome, landing at his uncle’s feet.

Ben frowned. Had a piece of the roof come away? There was no rain or cold coming in. He looked up at the roof where the light was coming from.

“It comes from a stone in the ceiling,” Luke said. Ben drew closer.

“What is it?” he said. Luke shook his head.

“There is a pattern to it but I don’t yet understand it.”

Ben looked closer at the stone.

“Does the sun shine through the stone?” Luke shook his head.

“It has shone on sunny days and moonless nights just as bright.” In spite of himself Ben was intrigued. As was his uncle if the expression on his face was anything to go by.

As Ben watched the light he got the feeling that it was connected to other parts of the island. Ben needed to see where.

“Will it last long enough for us to reach the top of the island,” Ben said.

“Yes,” Luke said. They looked at each other. Ben was amazed. That old feeling of two minds working as one came easier and easier. How could he have turned his back on this? He looked at his uncle. It was that old pain that had blinded him.

“I always knew I would never measure up. I would never be who you thought I should be. I could never say this to anyone. I tried so hard to be the kind of person…Jedi…but they were never there and you…you were always…the Kenobi’s, Rey, your students, they always mattered more….” Ben felt his throat close over as his heart threatened to beat itself into a pulp.

Luke’s eyes grew shadowed, the brilliant blue turning grey and sad.

“You always mattered to us, to me, but I expected too much. You were a shining star yet we always knew there was a dark side. When it started to come out we…didn’t do things right.”

“Your mother and I have always regretted not telling you about your grandfather. We only knew his dark side. It has taken time to know who the real Anakin Skywalker was.”

Ben shook his head. “For all of my obsession with him, I don’t know who he was either.”

Luke’s eyes narrowed. “The dark side clouded everything. That gave Snoke his hold. Beware Ben; you still have much darkness in you. Snoke will still be able to hurt you. I see your light growing but it still lacks the strength you need.”

“The vision said I will always have the darkness in me. Kylo Ren will always be there.”

Luke huffed. “I wouldn’t be too quick to interpret the vision. It’s meaning is not yet clear.”

An old resentment from his academy days needled at him. Habit told him to squash it down but something else, something that felt like the force, drove him to speak.

“You always used to do that.” Luke looked up, a scowl on his face. Ben remembered that too. This time he wasn’t going to be intimidated.

“Did you know how much you made me doubt myself?” Luke blinked, his head tilting back as his brows drew together.

“I wanted you to seek the deeper meaning. To be patient until the force revealed these things to you. You always wanted to rush into things.” Luke shook his head. “You were just like me at the same age. I thought I knew so much. I rushed into things.” He lifted his metallic hand and looked at it. “My father taught me to think first.”

Ben’s mouth dropped open as he stared at his uncle. What was he supposed to say to that? Still something prompted him.

“Kylo Ren was a part of me, even before Snoke. I can’t be like you Uncle Luke,” Ben said. His uncle sighed.

“Ben, we all have darkness within us that we need to overcome,” Luke said. Ben clenched his fists. Why couldn’t Luke understand? Why couldn’t he make him understand?

“I don’t understand. On the one hand you say we have to embrace who we are and on the other hand we have to overcome who we are. Which is it?”

Luke was watching him carefully. Ben tensed. There would always be this…suspicion that he would do something Vaderish. He felt his temper rise as Luke remained motionless.

“Both,” Luke said. Ben ground his teeth. Oh, that was helpful.

“So I’m supposed to accept myself as I am and overcome myself. How do I do this?” He swung out a hand wildly, the light falling from the ceiling forgotten. Luke continued to stand still, watching him, closed off.

The light had grown brighter.

“We need to go outside as you suggested, Ben, and see what else we can find out about this light,” Luke said. Ben knew it was a way to avoid answering him and he wasn’t having it. He wanted to talk about the ugly stuff inside.

“Why won’t you talk to me?” Luke’s eyes narrowed and his scowl grew deeper.

“Right now you’re full of anger and impatience. You need to seek peace and calm or the dark within you will cloud everything again.” Ben wanted to scream. If he didn’t think it was childish he’d stamp his foot, maybe even jump up and down.

“I just want to talk to you about why I’m so torn apart all the time. I can’t be the Jedi you want me to be Uncle. I will always be dark,” he buried a fist in his hair, his other hand clenched and looking for something to bash it down on.

“Ben Solo at the academy was a lie. He might have been good on the outside but the monster was always there. I couldn’t keep him locked up anymore. I couldn’t fight him anymore. That’s why I became Kylo Ren. When I accepted who I was I was overcome uncle. I became the monster because I had no choice.”

“We always have a choice Ben. It was Snoke that made you think otherwise.”

“No!” Ben didn’t know why he’d come here. Why would he have thought things would be different? Of course his uncle wouldn’t understand.  

“This is why Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader. Snoke said that as Darth Vader he’d chosen to truly give himself to the force. He had gained his power by accepting all of the force not just part of it.”

His uncle snorted.

“Snoke doesn’t accept the whole of the force. He pretends to consider the light while he manipulates his prey into the dark.”

Ben felt a cold sensation in the pit of his stomach and looked away. He had been the prey. His uncle took a step towards him now.

 “Rey changed you,” his uncle said. Ben’s head snapped back, his spine stiffening.

“Leave her out of this.”

“Why?  I have always known there was something about her. Why else would she be in your vision?”

Ben ground his teeth and towered over his uncle. He always got a perverse sense of pleasure making his uncle look up at him when he was angry. As was often the case though, Luke simply raised an eyebrow and folded his arms over his chest. Ben wasn’t going to let that stop him speaking his mind.

“Because why the hell not. Why not have someone there who said she loves me. Why not have the one person there who I truly care about. Why not have someone who’s important to my life in a vision about my life. She’s not your damn chosen one. She’s the woman I love and she’s going to be a part of my life forever. We’re bonded. That’s why she’s important to me.” He stood there glaring at his uncle, about to lose his temper.

“Huh, there’s that old Ben,” his uncle said. “Always ready to fight about it.”

“What.” Luke turned away. Ben glared at his uncle’s back. His hand itched to ignite his sabre and use it on something but there was nothing of inconsequential value that could be easily destroyed here.

“I came here with you because I thought you would help me.” Luke turned around.

“No you didn’t. You came here because you wanted me to let you off. Well I won’t do that.”

Ben was aghast. Was that truly what his uncle thought? He’d been wrong to come here. Ben began to shake, not sure if it was hurt or rage or both. He turned to walk away. He was getting the hell off this forsaken planet and going back to get Rey. Then he was going to take her away from all….

“What. No lightsabre,” Luke said behind him, a challenge in his voice. Ben froze. A cold realisation came over him. His uncle was deliberately trying to bait him. Did his uncle want a fight? Ben felt his shoulders sag. He was testing him to see if he would give in to his anger and reach for the dark side.

“I know what you’re doing Uncle Luke and it’s not going to work.” Ben refused to turn around and took a step towards the Falcon.

The sound of a lightsabre igniting froze him to the spot. A green glow lit up the temple walls in the dim light.

“You don’t get off so lightly Ben. We have unfinished business.” Ben suppressed a growl, clenching his fists. His uncle was right. They had unfinished business. Ben had accused his uncle of weakness and doing wrong and then proceeded to turn or murder his students to prove it.

Pain began to beat through his system. The back of his neck prickled. Was it the pain of guilt for what he’d done, the pain of loss of the good person he’d been, the pain of the loss of life, precious life…or was it the pain of Snoke reaching into his mind again? The cold hand of fear reached up to obscure his judgement. He shook his head. He’d been unable to resist Snoke before. But this time he had something more. Ben reached for the light, the last of the light that had come from Rey and he light from his grandfather, both now growing in him. He felt its peace wash away the pain. Snoke no longer had any hold over him.

“I felt that. Congratulations Ben. You passed test number one.”

Ben frowned. He turned to his uncle.

“What do you mean, a test?”

“You reached for the light.” Luke’s inscrutable look hid something. Ben knew it. He could feel nothing from his Uncle, as though he was made of stone. Ben’s anger rolled about him. Yes, the light could conquer the fear inside him but what about his anger.

“A test. You want to test me.” He untied his robe and tossed it to the ground then unclipped his lightsabre and ignited it, its ragged red shaft buzzing between them. “Test me then.”

It was like a light had gone on behind a closed door. He could feel his uncle’s anger rise behind the door, its glow filtering out through the gaps around the edge. Ben swallowed. It blazed hotter than he’d expected. His uncle just stood and breathed. Ben took a step back.

“Don’t tempt me Ben. I loved you like a son. I would have done anything for you. I let you go even though I knew it was wrong. Even now I’m doing my best to protect you and help you but if you turn on me again…” his uncle drew in a shuddering breath.

Ben’s heart was racing. He’d sought this confrontation for so many years and now it was here it was for all the wrong reasons. He had no desire for superiority any more. He was just mad, about everything, and his uncle was somewhere at the center of it all. He knew his uncle was in a dangerous frame of mind but caution evaded him. He took a step towards his uncle, his lightsabre in a raised position.

“The only person who gave a damn about me was Snoke. He was the only one who I meant something to.” Luke’s anger grew white hot.

“If that was true then why did I leave Rey behind to come and find you after the temple fell? Why did I let you go at the academy? Why did I come here instead of hunting you down like I should have? All the people who’ve died because I didn’t want to kill you? And Han…” His uncle’s voice cracked and he turned away. Ben didn’t know what he was doing anymore. He could barely see for the tears, pain and rage in his system. It was like a festering wound.

“Don’t turn your back on me,” Ben roared. He lunged towards his uncle to make him turn around. When he did the thick green bolt of his uncle’s lightsabre clashed with the red sparking shaft of his own. They glared at each other, bearing their full weight against each other through their weapons. Ben knew his uncle was barely touching the force to hold him there.

“You killed for power and fear with no thought for the lives you took,” Luke growled. Ben knew it was true but all the pain inside him drove him like a starved rancor. He pushed against Luke with a wave of the force and was met with a force wall in return. There was no point in battering against it. Lightsabres it was.

Ben wasn’t foolish enough to think his height and weight would be of much use against his uncle. He retreated only enough to come at his uncle from another angle, testing his skills. It hadn’t dwindled in the years they’d been apart.

They circled, their prowling steps interspersed with spasmodic jabs and thrusts when someone left an opening.

“You haven’t progressed as far as you might have Ben,” Luke said. Ben knew it was true and lashed out in frustration and fury. He dragged the force to him and used it to guide his strike, a heavy blow that his uncle would struggle to parry…if he was still where he’d been a moment ago. Luke had retreated before Ben could even see where he’d gone. The unexpected lack of resistance to his lightsabre caused him to stumble but he caught himself quickly and pushed back to a ready position.  

Ben knew better than to engage in a battle of strength against wits. He’d only tire himself out. Ben feinted and spun bringing his lightsabre down over the top at an angle the Luke wouldn’t be able to avoid. Luke braced, took the force of the blow then twisted. He put out a foot as Ben’s weight shifted and Luke sent him tumbling down towards the stone floor. Ben caught himself, rolled and sprang up, swiping his sabre in an arc to deter any follow-up strikes as he found his footing again.

What was he doing? This was crazy. He was only fighting with half of himself. He breathed and let the force flow through him. He could feel that monster, Kylo Ren, ready to pounce. The rage and resolve of the beast that wanted blood breathed into his soul. Ben let him come and leapt, his sabre a vicious twisting shaft of power that extended from him against his uncle. His uncle barely caught it and sent him back with a force shove. Ben dodged the main power of it and came at his uncle again, each blow furious and focussed on connecting with flesh. Luke backed up and Ben pressed his advantage, each loping stride testing that advantage.

Ben was focussed on Luke but he could feel the world around him too, like an animal hunting his prey he kept his focus on his uncle but realised Luke was leading them outside with each blow and parry and each step he backed up. Cold icy wind and rain began to blow about them as they left the restored hallways and emerged into the ruins proper. For a moment it seemed like the weather raged against him but then he realised his uncle had simply pulled it to him and aimed it at Ben. Ben pushed out with the force and lunged at his uncle. Luke parried but Ben found an opening and swung his lightsabre so it skimmed just below his uncle’s beard.

“Getting slow old man,” Ben snapped.

Before Ben knew it his uncle’s lightsabre had flicked up the side of his head and singed the side of his hair. Ben stopped. He shook his head, water droplets flinging out from the dampening strands. That was too close.

“You always were vain about your hair,” Luke snarked. Ben felt his anger rise as Kylo Ren quit lurking in his bones and became his body. He charged his uncle, spinning body to enhance the power of the strike and brought his sabre down in a punishing arc. Luke caught it but stumbled and backed further away. Kylo Ren went after him determined to make the kill but before he could Luke vanished. Ben looked about. Where had…

“You need to anticipate better Ben,” his uncle said behind him. Ben spun around and brought his sabre up in a defensive position.

“What was that,” he demanded.

“A force echo. You really shouldn’t let that monster chase them. He could get Ben killed.”

“I’ve never heard of that.”

“Not under Snoke’s instruction you won’t. It might give you an advantage over him.”

Ben shivered and not because of the cold. All of Snoke’s lessons revolved around pain and suffering. Making him hard enough to carry the burden of his destiny.

“Show me,” Ben said.

“You should know how it works Ben or have you lost your curiosity. You’ve become cold and hard and the force resists you even as you bend it to your will.”

“Stop preaching old man,” Ben snapped and lunged. Luke danced out of the way. Ben followed, rain in his eyes but with the force flowing through him he could sense where his uncle was even if he was blindfolded. He wasn’t going to be caught like that again. He caught up to his uncle and cornered him on the path up to the mountain between two rocks. Luke jumped and landed on the rock above him. Ben followed. Even as he landed he put out a hand towards his uncle’s feet to unsettle his stance on the slippery rocks in the rain. Luke dipped and scuttled back to get his footing again. Ben prowled towards him. Luke backed away.

It occurred to Ben that Luke might be leading him somewhere. All this chasing and backing up was taking them along the path up the mountain.

“I know you’re leading me somewhere,” Ben said but he kept striding after his uncle anyway. His uncle would know this place better than he did. Ben was fighting in an unknown landscape. He reached out with the force to get a sense of things about him.

“I taught you that,” Luke said. “It took you a lot of practice to sense the world about you. You hated the meditation I made you do until you got it right. Now you do it on the run.”

Ben knew it was true but wasn’t going to admit it.

“Shut up and fight old man,” Ben said. As if on command Luke appeared out of the rocks beside him, his sabre swinging towards Ben’s chest. Ben caught it in time, his anger flaring at being caught off guard. He snapped out a few blows with his sabre to put Luke on the defensive then feinted and came about with a deadly arc aimed for his head. It was the sort of move that could decapitate the less experienced but not a master like…

He looked into his uncle’s eyes. Too close. The green sabre was down not up. In a moment his uncle’s head would be cleaved from his shoulders. He heard a scream and with his mind he killed his sabre and dropped it. They stood, chests heaving from exertion as they stared at each other.

A flare of rage whipped up inside him.

“What are you doing? Are you trying to get yourself killed?” Ben roared full in his uncle’s face. His uncle’s face was calm but Ben could feel he wasn’t calm behind the exterior. When he spoke his voice held a slight tremor that spoke volumes.

“You passed the second test.”

Ben knew he should have wanted to know what Luke was talking about. He should have been calm and let his ‘curiosity’ take over and ask questions, etcetera and etcetera.  But he wasn’t.

“A test,” he snarled. He’d nearly lost his uncle, another member of his family, at his own hand…again. Outright terror at the thought riled his fury and without thinking he launched at his uncle. They went down in the mud, Ben’s hands around his uncle’s neck. He wasn’t so much trying to choke him as to just shove him down into the mud. Luke placed his hands on his shoulders and force shoved him off to the side but Ben grabbed his uncle and pulled him with him. They braced against each other, each one trying to shove the other in the mud, both succeeding for a moment before the other used some force trickery or outright power to weight to try and gain an advantage. Before long they were both covered in mud.

“Ben. Stop!” Luke’s words held the power of the force behind them and Ben felt his hands relax. Luke didn’t use the moment against him and so Ben stayed still. They both stared at each other, the rain trickling down their faces, into their eyes, making them blink. Ben breathed and let his anger ebb away. They sank down to sit on the wet ground, uncaring about the rain and mud soaking into them.

“Would you have done that a week ago,” his uncle said. Ben knew what he meant, to stop and let an opponent go. It was more than that though. His anger had been his power and he’d let it go.

“You overcame your fear by reaching for the light. You overcame your anger by letting it go. I know the monster that lives inside you Ben. It’s the same monster that lives inside me. You think I don’t know what the power of the darkness feels like. I nearly killed my own father because of it while the Emperor stood by and cheered. I learned to overcome the monster Ben. I know it’s still there but if you don’t feed it doesn’t grow strong.”

Ben pulled his legs up and rested his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. He felt drained. Like he’d been fighting non-stop for years, and maybe he had been. He knew tears were running down his face and was glad that they were hidden by the rain. Luke continued to speak.

“Your grandfather fought the light within him almost to the end. He was conflicted like you. He was deceived by the Emperor. The desire for power and control is what had lead him to the Emperor’s side but it was fear, pride and hate that kept him by the Emperor’s side. He tried to bring me and your mother under his control because that was the only way he could see to keep us. It wasn’t until the end that he realised what he had to do to break the Emperors hold on him. When he saw that I would rather die than accept the life he had accepted he finally understood what he needed to do to make it right.”

Ben looked up at his uncle. Snoke had been wrong about his grandfather. It wasn’t a moment of weakness to have saved his son. He’d found the strength to be himself again.

_As have you, Ben._

Ben bowed his head, an ache in his heart for the mess he’d made of everything.

“I’m sorry for everything Uncle Luke,” he said. The words didn’t come from some sense of obligation or duty but from an understanding of the costs of what he’d done. Luke put a hand on his shoulder. Ben wasn’t sure how long they sat like that until he realised how cold he was.

The rain had stopped and the cloud had lifted. Ben looked up. They were closer to the top of the mountain than he realised. Something about the top of the mountain drew him. He pushed to his feet and began to walk the rest of the way.

“Ah, Ben,” Luke called out. “Remember the tree. The force is strong here and you should be prepared for…”

Ben didn’t hear the rest of what his uncle said. A light had begun to appear about him. It was like the lights in his vision, tiny stars that gathered and congregated into a stream that twisted and found mass until it was a wave the enveloped him. The light grew brighter, sharper, piercing him, scorching him. He cried out in fear.

_Don’t fight it Ben. Let it be._

Grandfather. Help me.

_I’m here._

Ben could feel the light all over him like it was alive. It was like Rey’s light only more vast and enveloping. It burned into him, down to bone and sinew. His flesh was gone, he was just the force. He no longer felt alive. He couldn’t be. He was just a thought, a memory. Something in that thought sparked. What was this? He was a little boy again. What was this? He looked at it. He felt it. Power in his mind, his body, his bones. Power like steel in his bones and the sharpest intellect behind his eyes. His fingers tingled with it. He still had fingers. He still had a mind. He opened his eyes and the light blazed around him, separating into its starry components, clinging to him until it began to whirl and slide away from him.

He blinked and stared into the worried face of his uncle. Ben sucked in a shaky breath.

“I…I think I know what that light in the temple is about,” Ben said. “Although I’m not sure I can quite explain it.”

Luke nodded, a wry grin playing about his mouth.

“I know the feeling,” he said.

Ben raised an eyebrow. “That sounds like you speak from experience.”

Luke didn’t get the chance to answer. A prickle in the back of Ben’s neck and the back of his mind distracted him. They both looked up.

“They’re here,” Luke said.  Ben could feel it as they came out of hyperspace. Many presences. All afraid, chaotic, angry. Some familiar, some not.

And one in particular that was dark. Ben reached out to her and found bitterness and rage.

_You should have been there._

He wanted to reassure her, tell her she was alright but she shut him out, repulsing him like she’d slapped him. He suspected he was going to have to get used to that.

He looked at his uncle.

“Rey,” Ben breathed. She needed him. He turned to go back down the path to the temple.

“Ben,” his uncle called out. He stopped and looked back.

“She’s going to need you to be strong for her.” He nodded. His heart contracted in fear. He couldn’t lose her to the darkside, not after everything he’d come through to get here.

“And you might want to clean up a bit before you see her too,” Luke said. Ben froze then looked down at himself and grimaced. The only kind of monster he was at the moment was a mud monster. He was glad he’d taken off the robe his mother had given him. It would have been ruined by now otherwise. He ran a hand through his hair. Rey had looked at his hair a lot the first time she’d seen him. Luke laughed.

“Yes, you might want to do something with your hair,” his uncle said. Ben looked up and scowled.

“Leave my hair alone. I like it the way it is.”

Luke laughed. “So does Rey apparently.”

Ben’s heart did a somersault.

“What.”

“She may have mentioned it,” Luke said. Ben wasn’t sure if his uncle was having a lend of him or not.

“You can take first turn in the fresher on the Falcon,” Luke said. Without a second thought Ben turned and tore back down the mountain, all thought of force lights and their meaning swept from his mind by Rey’s appearance into his world again. He had the feeling it was going to be as meteoric as last time.


	34. Chapter 34

Rey hadn’t moved from her position for hours, body tucked into a ball and leaning against the wall of the ship. She had tried to meditate the way Luke had taught her but the image of Solia’s face, terrified and desperate came up to distract her time and time again. Guilt kept twisting inside her so that she hadn’t been able to look at either Mikalas or Sanjo. Sanjo’s words jarred across her mind to undermine everything she thought about herself.

She had been abandoned and yet that was what she had just done to Solia, knowing she would die. It wasn’t any comfort that others were alive because of it. She knew what it was to be left behind. She knew. Another wave of guilt enveloped her so she tucked her head back down so no one would see the tears forming in her eyes.

Gem had done this. Gem had taken so much from her. Her anger burned. Gem, her sister… hated her. Rey didn’t understand. They had all turned against her. Her father had refused to let her be trained. Eli tried to kill her. Gem had wanted her dead and had almost succeeded in killing her as well. Why? And what of her mother?

“You’re the only one on this space bucket who hasn’t betrayed me…in some way?”

Rey’s eyes popped open, annoyed by the interruption to her thoughts. She scowled and looked about for the voice. To her surprise she saw Hux watching her. He was slumped in his seat and staring at her with a fevered look in his eye. Rey closed her eyes again and ignored him. He was the last person she wanted to talk to. She tried to block him out. He didn’t give her much chance.

“FN-2187 was the first traitor. No, it was Hallomy. My best hacker and she threw it all away to go bounty hunting. Now she’s…” Rey glared at him but he didn’t notice. Hux scowled at the wall opposite and shifted uncomfortably. “Now she’s making out with a _Resistance_ pilot.”

Rey pressed her lips together. She was in no mood for a talkative Hux. She just huffed and turned away.

“Those two Dashtron’ns have betrayed the First Order as well,” he said. Rey tensed. Was he drunk?

“Leave them alone,” she hissed. Hux looked at her, eyes wide. He swayed but happily for her, he rocked back into his seat. He continued unperturbed, turning to the red haired woman next to him, his voice aggrieved.

“And my own cousin.”

Kari glared at him then stood up and moved towards the cockpit where Imri and Phasma sat at the controls.

“Phasma.” His jaw worked and he made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a sob. “My best officer.”

Rey had had enough. She got up and stalked across to where he sat. He looked up at her, eyes wide, mouth open.

“It was Ren. She liked him better than me.” Rey had meant to stuff something into his mouth again but he tipped sideways. She caught him before he toppled onto the ground. He looked up at her and glared.

“You…ate my breakfast.” He shook his head.

“Being rescued by Ren was the worst…that was your fault,” he snapped.

Rey shoved him back in his chair. “Shut up.”

Hux looked her up and down in a way that made her want to slap him.

“I know what Ren sees in you,” he said. That did it.

“Rey.” She froze, hand upraised. She stared down at Hux. Why hadn’t he been eaten alive by womp rats in childhood? He leered at her.

“It’s just another side effect of the Karote poisoning. Ignore him,” Mikalas said. Rey felt a rush of shame and then anger. Luke had taught her to have compassion, to avoid anger and revenge but Luke hadn’t been there. She clenched her fists for a moment while she tried to get a hold of the clashing emotions rising inside her. She told herself she didn’t care about Hux or what he had to say.

“Snoke isn’t such a bad leader. At least I know where I stand. If you screw up you’re punished or you’re dead. Otherwise you just get on with your work.”

“I’ll stick with the Resistance,” Rey muttered and went to sit back down.

“My father.” Hux’ lip curled and he leaned forward. “He thought I was a screw up the day I was born.” Rey was inclined to agree with the absent parent but not for the same reasons.

“Oh yes, always the disappointment. Father’s always make sure you know just how much of a screw up you are. At least Ren agreed with me on that point.” Rey tamped down a flash of anger, reminding herself that Hux’ rambling was the effects of Karote poisoning. She began to wonder how much longer it would take to get to Ahch-To.

“Of course Ren’s father was right,” Hux muttered. Rey ground her teeth together as she looked for somewhere else on the ship to sit, except she didn’t want to be near other’s who might want to talk to her as well.

Hux said nothing for a while and Rey began to relax, returning to her own thoughts.

“You had no choice,” Hux said. Rey’s temper boiled as she shot to her feet.

“If you say one more word…” Rey stopped. The look in Hux’ eye was clear and shrewd.

“If you can’t live with the decisions you make then you have no business being a Jedi.”

Rey froze. “What do you know about it,” she snapped.

“All the people around you are alive because you made a sacrifice. Live with it.”

Rey glared at him. He might be right but that didn’t mean he had to point it out. She really wanted him to shut up. Her mouth was shooting off before she gave herself a moment to think.

“Is that how you viewed the Hosnian system?”

His lips pressed together and his nostrils flared as his chest heaved. He looked down and she saw him shudder. Rey swallowed. She’d lashed out again and had thrown everyone within earshot back into the fathomless horror of the worst known act of war.

“Oh come on General. Remorse. Surely not. ” It was Finn. Force. Why hadn’t she just shut up and ignored Hux? Now she’d got Finn involved. Finn had that look in his eye that she remembered when he spoke about the First Order.

“You,” Hux spat. “Do you know how much trouble you caused me?”

“Are you really going to argue about the trouble I caused?” Rey put a hand on Finn’s shoulder, urging him with a gentle pressure to back off. The death stare he was giving Hux didn’t bode well.

A chrome wall appeared next to Hux. “Back off?”

Rey scrunched her eyes shut and sighed. Now Phasma was involved. Why? Why? Why hadn’t she just…

“You were there too Phasma,” Finn snarled, glaring up at her like a plucky nerf facing off against a gundark. Phasma’s masked face gave nothing away.

“It was my duty to follow orders. Something you don’t have much respect for,” Phasma said. Rey could feel it. Finn’s emotions were like an exploding nebula and someone was going to get burnt. Rey grabbed Finn’s shoulders to hold him back when he tried to shove Phasma. It would be a very uneven contest with Phasma in full armour and Finn not.

“It’s not a duty to massacre people you piece of space dirt.”

Rey could feel the hit coming and she tried to pull Finn back out of the way but Phasma wouldn’t be denied her target. Finn’s head snapped around, bearing the mark of Phasma’s armoured fist.

“Stop,” Rey yelled, infusing the command with as much of the force as she could muster. It didn’t slow Phasma down much. Rey had underestimated the animosity between the two. Finn stumbled but turned back and charged. He knew it was useless to try and hit her with his fists. Instead his aim was to knock her off her feet. He didn’t. He just bounced off.

Phasma struck again and Finn went down. Rey jumped in to stop her when she advanced towards him. Phasma swiped one huge arm at her to push her aside but Rey struck out with the force, stopping Phasma in her tracks.

Phasma’s attention was now fully on Rey.

“If you ever do that again, Jedi or no Jedi, I’ll kill you,” she growled. Rey’s anger flared at the threat. She had never backed down from a fight when it was a matter of survival.

“I suggest we all calm down,” Hux said in his command voice.

Phasma and Rey turned to him at the same time. “Shut up.”

Hux wasn’t used to disobedience and blinked. Kari, who had eased her way back next to her cousin, elbowed him in the ribs. “Ouch.” He was more shocked than pained by the jab.  

“I think you’ve said enough,” Kari hissed. Rey would have laughed if she hadn’t been focussed on Phasma. She could feel Finn next to her, also ready to fight. Emotion was rising inside of her, all the anger, grief and guilt of the past day pushing at her thin level of control.

The alarm sounded to signify they were about to come out of hyperspace.

“Find yourselves a seat,” Imri yelled from the pilot seat. No-one moved. The ship lurched as it came back into normal space. Rey managed to keep her feet and hold Finn up as well. Phasma was rock solid and unphased. Something about that made Rey even more furious with the woman.

Luke and Ben both brushed against her mind. Both wanting to enquire what the matter was and soothe her emotions. Her emotions already running high, Rey lashed out.

_You should have been there_. They retreated. She felt Ben try again to touch her through their fledgling bond to soothe the hurt and anger coursing through her but she lashed out again, shutting him down. Guilt and shame stuck her in the gut. She needed him and he needed her after his defection from the First Order but there was something inside her that was sucking her in. She could feel it taking hold. A darkness that felt intoxicating. She could take Phasma on, make her pay for her part in the Hosnian system.

“Transmission from our contact coming through Phasma,” Imri called out.

“Do we have a confirmed transaction,” Phasma said, never taking her eyes off Rey.

“Confirmed.”

“What the hell are you two talking about,” Finn demanded.

Phasma and Imri remained silent. Hux wasn’t so obliging.

“You’re going to sell me to someone else aren’t you,” he cried out. Everyone froze. Rey could feel Phasma’s annoyance behind the chrome mask.

“Of course you are,” Rey snapped. “Someone whose going to pay more for him.”

“He belongs to the Republic. He’s their prisoner,” Finn said.

“Not until they pay up,” Phasma snapped.

“No. Don’t let them sell me off like this,” Hux wailed. Rey couldn’t give a damn about Hux, she was just mad that Phasma would renege on the deal with the Republic to hand over Hux.

Hux started to pull at his shackles.

“Send me to the Republic. I’d rather die there. I’ll be used as bait on Geonosis. I’ll be a serving rat at a Hutt’s palace…”

The palm of Phasma’s armoured glove collided with his face. “Shut up.” Kari was on her feet now.

“Don’t you dare hit him. He might be a cretin but he’s still my cousin and I won’t let you slap him around.” Hux stared at her open-mouthed. Phasma shoved Kari aside. Finn took immediate exception to this and launched at Phasma again.

“Leave her alone,” he yelled and shoulder charged Phasma. This time she did step back…only to get her balance again. She went for Finn, her hand snapping around his throat.

Rey had just meant to defend her friend but she was too angry to think clearly. Her lightsabre was out and buzzing in Phasma’s face before she even realised it was a bad idea.

“Get that thing out of my face,” Phasma roared. Finn’s eyes were bulging and he gasped for air as he tried to pry Phasma’s fingers off his neck.

“Let Finn go,” Rey shot back. Phasma tossed him aside. Kari abandoned her cousin and went to Finn’s aid. Rey faced off against Phasma, who was counting on the fact that her armour was lightsabre resistant. Rey had more than a lightsabre in her arsenal.

Other passengers began to shout.

“What are you doing?” Hux screamed. Kari pushed him back in his seat.

“If you rip up my ship with that thing,” Imri yelled from the cockpit.

“I suggest you get down to the planet so we can disembark,” Mikalas replied. Imri must have agreed with that as she turned back to the controls and moved the ship towards the planet.

The two Stormtroopers had decided discretion was the better part of valour and were staying well out it.

“Are you alright Finn.” Kari had pulled him up to a sitting position. Rey felt a flash of annoyance at how close Finn and Kari seemed to be. Finn was her friend.

“Are you going to use that thing or just stand there looking stupid,” Phasma snapped. All of Rey’s guilt, anger and fear began to crystalize into a white hot rage aimed at the woman who towered above her. Rey leapt, aiming for Phasma’s chest. Phasma’s arm came across and the sabre skidded across the chrome, sending sparks flying and leaving behind a dulled surface. Rey fumed at the way Phasma had so easily batted her aside. This time she pulled the force to her, swung down and aimed for her legs. Unable to react fast enough Phasma found her leg knocked out from under her, the sabre denting the chrome armour. Phasma hissed from the heat and stumbled. Rey jumped in to keep her down.

Except Phasma wasn’t so easily beaten. She grabbed Rey’s wrist and collar, pulled her down with her, stuck a foot in her gut, rolled and tossed Rey against the wall opposite. Not expecting to find herself travelling through the air towards a hard stop, Rey dropped her sabre. The smack against the wall left her back hurting and stars flickering about her vision. She pulled on the force for strength and pushed herself to her feet.

Rey looked about for her lightsabre. Phasma was about to pick it up so she reached out and pulled it from her grasp, igniting it once again to everyone else’s chagrin.

 

A message came through from General Organa. Finn diverted his attention from Kari and the fight between Rey and Phasma, a fight he knew he’d started, and went to the view screen that Imri had brought up.

“I’m heading down to the planet to pick up Master Skywalker and…Ben. We need to get them off…What is going on there? Finn, have you been fighting?”

“Sorry General,” Finn said, his voice a little wobbly. “Things are a little busy here at the moment. Can we get back to you?” The General’s eyes widened as she spotted Rey’s lightsabre swinging towards Phasma again.

“No you can’t. I want to know what’s…”

“Phasma and Imri intend to keep Hux and sell him to another buyer and Rey is trying to convince her…um…not to.”

The General looked at Imri, who glared at Finn.

There was a scream and Finn looked about, a frission of panic rising inside him as the chaos about him also rose.

“I really have to go General,” Finn said and flicked off the link.

“You might want to sit down as we land,” Imri said. “Atmospheric conditions aren’t good.” Finn looked at the swirling clouds, the fight between Rey and Phasma, Kari and the other passengers trying to avoid becoming collateral damage. He hadn’t known Kari for long but, in spite of the strong family resemblance, she was very different to her cousin. She had a good heart and was kind and sweet where her cousin was arrogant, entitled and, quite frankly, psychopathic. He liked Kari. He didn’t have much time to consider his feeling there as Phasma avoided another deadly swing from Rey’s sabre.

Phasma had Rey about the middle now. Rey swung her lightsabre back over her head where it collided with the top of Phasma’s helmet, taking out a light in the ceiling in the process. Finn watched for a moment and decided Rey could have ended this by now but hadn’t. Phasma also had some deadly moves she just wasn’t using.

The ship lurched due to turbulence and both women fell to the floor. Rey was fast and was up on top of Phasma, her hands going for her neck. Phasma threw Rey off, getting a kick into her side. Rey rolled and shot to her feet again. Phasma was on her feet and charged. Rey held her hands out in front and force pushed Phasma back. Except that Phasma was a fast learner and redirected her weight off to the side where she used the wall to push off again, aiming to grab Rey’s hands.

The problem Finn could see was that the two women were fairly evenly matched. This could go on for some time and there was already more than one hole in the walls, a broken computer panel, and a slash in a seat not far from where Hux had been sitting. He must have been the one who screamed. He was now unshackled and cowering with Kari near an escape pod. Finn would have dearly loved to have stuffed Hux into one of those escape pods and left him for the First Order to pick up but they were well inside the atmosphere by now. 

Finn spotted Sanjo. He was watching the whole thing wide-eyed, frowning one moment, gasping the next. Finn had an idea.

“You need to get her lightsabre,” he said to Sanjo. Sanjo looked up.

“What,” he said.

“Her lightsabre. You need to get it off her.”

“Of course,” Mikalas said. Sanjo looked at his father, frightened by the prospect.

“There’s not much space down there to land,” Imri called out.

“Anywhere will do,” Finn shot back. Imri looked back at the swinging lightsabre as it crashed into another seat and muttered something about Jedi under her breath.

 

Rey could feel the force flowing through her in a chaotic whirl. Phasma spun and kicked out, attempting to knock Rey off her feet. Rey jumped and swung her sabre again, taking her anger out on the chrome armour about Phasma’s middle.

_Rey._

Rey had blocked out everything in her mind, focussed on the woman in front of her. The voice calling her name was unfamiliar. She ignored it.

_I feel the hate in you. Use it._

Something about that voice.

_Kill her._

Rey stumbled. No.

Phasma took advantage of Rey’s distraction and slammed a fist into her jaw. She saw stars again and swayed. She fell to her knees, her hands out to stop her falling all the way to the floor. Her lightsabre was gone. She looked up to see it in Sanjo’s hand.

The ship bumped down onto something solid but not quite flat, causing everything and everyone to list sideways. Rey slid along the floor and ended up in a heap on top of Hux. The last thing Rey needed was to end up sitting in the lap of the prissy parasite. 

An arm clad in charcoal grey went around her. She looked down, shocked to see it there. She turned to push Hux away but his arm tightened. His hand came up and slid behind her head and pulled her close. His mouth came down on hers, kissing her in a way that was more practiced than she would have thought. Rey was taken by surprise and so was slow to react. Then she remembered who was kissing her and shoved him, hard. With brutal force she smashed him back to the floor, stuck a knee in his groin as she got up and kicked him in the ribs when she was on her feet.

Hux groaned in pain as he lay curled up on the floor.

“You’re going to regret that,” Rey snarled. He looked like he already did. She was glad. Hux looked up through his pain, his mouth twisted into something between a grin and a grimace.

“That’s for Ren,” he croaked. “I know he’s going to find it in your head sometime.” Rey was horrified by the thought. Without another word she turned to find her sabre. She yanked it from Sanjo’s hand, ignited it and swung it down.

“No,” Kari screamed. Hux cried out in shock and pain as his hand went to his face to cover the burn mark across his cheek.

“I’ll make sure he gets that memory too,” Rey said. She turned away, her head spinning from…well, everything. She wasn’t expecting Phasma to be there again. This time she had a blaster in her grasp. Damn Hux, he’d given Phasma time to arm herself.

“Get off my ship,” Phasma snarled. Rey glared back, looking for a way to get around the blaster.

“Imri, what are you doing,” Finn said.

There was the sound of a high powered weapon charging up. One that looked oversized for the diminutive Twi’Lek.

“Everybody out,” she bellowed and lowered the huge blaster to Rey’s chest. “Unless you want to fix the damage you just created.” Rey could see bits of equipment behind the two women that she could pull through the air from behind them to use as weapons.

_Yes, you know how to do it. Kill them._

Rey lifted a hand but stopped. What was she doing?

“Rey. Master Skywalker is waiting for you.” It was Sanjo. His words jolted her, reminding her of who she was and who she wasn’t. She lowered her hand and nodded, backing away towards the ramp.

_Rey_

It was her grandfather. His voice sounded far away and desperate. Shame hit her like a bolt of lightning. She gasped and turned, running down the ramp.

Luke was there waiting for her. A lone figure in the humble Jedi robe he wore during training. He expression was disappointed. His blue eyes bored into her like he knew everything she had done. Every foolish mistake. Every selfish decision. When she felt the light and calm in his presence she realised just how far towards the dark side she’d been sliding. Mortification burned into her. Her mind and emotions were in a dark turmoil and her actions and intentions had been about to step over the line. She was a disgrace.

Hot tears began to spill over and down her cheeks. The sting of humiliation burned her deep and she turned and fled. She didn’t know where she was going. The Ahch-To fog swirled about the path to the temple. She remembered it as nearly a daily occurrence and had disliked the cloying wetness of it.

For once though she was happy it was foggy as the white mists closed around her. She didn’t want anyone to follow her. She stumbled along the path, her footing not so sure with both tears and mist obscuring her vision. She stopped and looked about. Was this the path to the temple? She wasn’t sure. It had been a while and…

A figure, tall and enigmatic, emerged from the swirling fog. Ben. Rey’s heart stopped, her mouth falling open. Dark tousled hair, tipped with moisture beads from the fog, framed his pale asymmetric face. Dark emotive eyes and a sensitive mouth that never failed to captivate her. He was so beautiful. Her heart skipped a beat, and another. Butterflies mounted a surprise attack on her middle. Waves of goose bumps crashed across her entire body. A hint of a smile on his full lips and her knees began to wobble.

“Rey,” he said, his smile widening. She was aware that she was standing there gawking at him like a besotted thirteen year old but she couldn’t help herself. He looked so different. No longer in black but wearing…colours. Blue and deep red that softened the sculpted planes of his face. He looked so much more the man of her dreams than he ever had before. 

And she was still the scrappy scavenger in a fight. In her heart she knew he was closer to the light than she was right now. She wanted to be the calm, self-controlled Jedi woman who was his equal but right now she was a pariah.

She looked down. There was a rip in her clothes. A tear ran into a cut on her face caused by Phasma’s armoured fist. She lifted a hand to her lip and flinched at the pain there. When she pulled it away there was a smear of blood on her fingers. No doubt her hair was a mess like her face.

Embarrassment burned through her happiness at seeing him again. She stepped back to turn away.

“Don’t go,” he said, an anxious plea in his voice that caught at her heart. He stepped closer to her, close enough to reach out and touch her. Rey wanted him to but she was so mixed up at the moment she just wanted to run. His eyes beseeched her to stay. He needed her to be strong. It would be hard for him coming back from the dark. The problem was she was being the worst kind of Jedi right now and would only serve to drag him back in the wrong direction.

She wasn’t sure if he’d taken another step closer to her or if she moved closer to him. If she tried to run away now she was sure he’d catch her or trap with the force or something. She looked up at him and felt trapped anyway, by a desire to kiss him. She wanted him to kiss away everything that had happened.

He reached out and took her hand in his, lifting it to his chest, and her arm tingled with warmth. He lifted his other hand and touched the side of her face where Phasma had hit her, nearly stopping her heart with the tenderness of it. She flinched when his fingers skimmed her damaged face but she refused to pull away. His touch was bliss.

“Beautiful as ever,” Ben said, his voice melting whatever hard places had stated to form inside her. She felt a little dizzy and reminded herself to breath. He spread his palm out across the place where it hurt the most. A tingling sensation grew beneath his touch. Rey stiffened as the tingling started to burn. It grew bright and she trembled.

“Don’t be afraid,” he said. Rey closed her eyes as the light seeped into her. The ache that was beginning to throb in her jaw subsided and she opened her eyes again…and drowned in the dark eyes that gazed down at her. His hand slid down around her shoulders, pulling her close.

“What was that,” she murmured. His eyes flicked down to her mouth and back up to her eyes again.

“I just wanted to stop the pain before I do this,” he said.

“Do what.”

He let go of the hand he held against his chest and cupped the other side of her face. She leaned into him, flattening her hand against his chest and wound her other arm around his waist. He bent down and brushed his lips across hers, a soft questioning. She pushed up on her toes and kissed him back with an indecorous amount of enthusiasm. She felt him smile and breathed in his soft laugh. She hoped she wasn’t being too forward but she was just a little bit desperate for him. Okay, a lot desperate for him.

Ben hauled her up against his chest and kissed her back hard enough to obliterate everything around her. Her whole world was him, his touch, his mouth on hers, his mind opening up to hers, letting her feel what he felt. She was consumed by his desire for her, his elation at having her in his arms and the joy of feeling her kiss him back. All she had for him was a desperate need to be with him and yet he was satisfied with that. 

Someone yelled out her name but she ignored them. Ben stopped kissing her. She tried to keep kissing him back but he lifted his head as the voice, angry and insistent came again.

“What the hell is going on?” It was Finn.

A muscle in Ben’s jaw flexed and his eyes narrowed and darkened. A flash of jealousy coursed through him as his arms tightened about her. Rey went still, a shiver of fear and something else she wasn’t familiar with that responded to Ben’s possessive hold began messing with her vital signs.

Rey was tipped back into the emotional turmoil that had plagued her since they fled the Resistance base. She could feel the emotions searing her from both men. As far as Finn was concerned he’d just discovered her kissing the enemy. As far as Ben was concerned, Rey belonged to him and he wasn’t going to share her with anyone, least of all a traitor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi All, thanks for reading and commenting on my last chapter. Seeing as I'm on holidays I finally decided to figure out how to get my tumblr account up and working. Go to http://darthbutterfingers.tumblr.com/ if you're interested in having a look at Darth Butterfinger's Castle. Happy New Year.


	35. Chapter 35

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long to update again but it seems to take me ages to get these angsty chapters together. I hope you enjoy.

“Get away from her.” Finn stormed towards them, his fury focussed on Ben. Rey started to turn to Finn but Ben refused to release his hold on her. She let Ben hold her in spite of the guilt niggling at her gut. Finn was her closest friend, the one who’d been there when this journey started. As far as Finn was concerned, Ben was still Kylo Ren, the man who’d nearly killed him…who’d killed Han.

Rey shivered. She still hated that part of Ben, the monster who’d killed his father, but she could feel the change in the man who held her. She wanted Finn to understand how Ben had changed. He wasn’t Kylo Ren anymore.

Except the darkness growing within Ben disagreed. Rey looked up at him, swallowing down her own emotions as she felt his rise. There was someone cold and brutal within him still and she knew who it was.

“Don’t be the monster,” she whispered, her voice trembling in spite of her attempts to calm the maelstrom in her heart.

Ben’s arms loosened. Pain was like a predator that took him down, his composure shattering. Rey’s heart broke to see it. He looked into her eyes, a haunted man. She castigated herself for reminding him. She could feel him shutting down, closing her out of his mind. She tried to find her way back but he kept her out. She felt like she’d been left outside to beat against a locked door. A stab of fury that he would deny their bond in this way caught her off guard but she tried to ignore it. She had to be stronger than that. He closed his eyes, his chest rising and falling.

“Kylo Ren will always be there, Rey. Always ready to destroy me, and you, if I let him.”

“No. You’ve changed. I know you have,” she said. She tried again to find a way back to their bond so she could show him with her memories how she’d seen him change but he continued to keep her out. Frustration rose up inside her but she refused to give in to it. She would not force her way into his mind as she had done once.

Finn was there now, shouting and shoving Ben away. Ben let her go and stepped back. Rey felt the cold of Ahch-To bite into her now that she was separated from Ben’s warmth. Something inside her grew a little cold and dark as the door to his mind remained shut. No, she wouldn’t let it get to her. Ben was struggling. She had to respect him and do something to help him.

Rey reached up to stop Finn as he continued to advance on Ben. “Finn. No. Can’t you see he’s changed? He’s not the enemy anymore.”

Finn snarled, glaring at Ben. “I don’t know what you’ve done to her but I won’t let you hurt her.”

“I’m not hurting her. I won’t hurt her,” Ben said. Finn’s lips pulled back in a sneer of derision as he shouldered his way in between them. Rey felt a dark spike of anger. She squashed it down but not quite fast enough before some came out of her mouth.

“He’s not hurting me,” she shouted. She clenched her fists, trying to stop the trembling taking over her body. Finn turned to her, confused and angry. She felt warmth from Ben across the bond as he opened himself up briefly but then closed the bond again. She calmed a little but still felt that edge to her emotions from being shut out. Finn’s eyes were pleading.

 “He’ll turn you to the dark side. Can’t you feel it? He’s trying to take you away again. He’s…he’s playing a game…sucking you in. When he’s got you then he’s going to turn you to the dark side.”

Rey tried to breathe and relax as she looked between the two men. Something unbearable was building inside her. She’d felt it before and she didn’t know how to stop it.

_They don’t understand you. They don’t know what you’re capable of._

Rey shook her head. She wouldn’t listen to that voice. Its owner had no claim on her.

_I can help you know your full potential._

No!

She realised her eyes were closed and opened them.

Both Finn and Ben were looking at her, Finn’s expression begging her to listen to him and Ben’s full of guarded concern. Rey cared about – loved – them both. The problem was that while Finn would always be her rock, Ben had her heart and whatever they went through, they would go through together because of the bond between them…if he would let her in.

“Everything he did to you, to me, does that mean nothing,” Finn said. The painful stab of guilt flared in her chest and its weight added to whatever was building inside her. She did her best to hold it back.

“Finn, he saved me from Snoke.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to…” Finn hissed and threw his hands in the air.

One side of her felt his words were unfair but the other side acknowledged their truthfulness. She was crazy for being in love with Ben.

Finn turned on Ben.

“You. You’re still dark side. I can feel it in you. Rey doesn’t need you messing her around. She’s been through enough. All you’re going to do is drag her down.”

A flash of something dark and light burst from Ben and collided with her through the force. Rey swayed, taken aback by its intensity. She was still trying to get used to this force bond and how it worked. She was confused by the realisation that while the bond was still there Ben was somehow stopping her from reaching out to him through it. She was back to banging at the door, her emotions getting harder to control. He wasn’t looking at her though.

“The dark side you say,” Ben said his voice cold but calm. “It may be in my past FN but it’s in your future. I know who you are. I won’t be the one pulling her to the dark side.”

Rey was horrified by Ben’s words. Finn stared at Ben like he’d grown an extra head. Something jogged Rey’s memory. Finn’s name, real name. She’d seen it on the Finalizer in Hux’ quarters. She wanted to tell Finn the truth but Ben was already speaking again.

“I know why my uncle hasn’t mentioned training you. Your future is clouded by the dark side. He sees it in you just like I do. You’re controlled by your fears Ayerus Windu and fear leads to the dark side.”

Ben and Finn stood there like they were made of stone. Finn looked at him like the revelation he’d been waiting for all his life had turned into an exploding galaxy in his face. Ben grimaced and looked away when he realised what had just come out of his mouth. Finn spoke, his voice no more than a whisper.

“What did you call me,” he said.

Ben held Finn’s gaze but his words were more circumspect this time.

“Your real name is Ayerus Windu and you were taken from your family because you have an ancestry among the Jedi.”

Finn stumbled back. Rey put a hand on his shoulder to steady him.

“It’s true. I saw Hux’s records when I was on the Finalizer. Your real name is Ayerus Windu. I’d forgotten after everything…Finn, this is a good thing. You know who you are. Maybe you can find your family. Maybe…”

“Don’t look for your family FN. You won’t find what you hope for,” Ben said. Finn’s whole body reacted, tensing, ready to strike. He got up in Ben’s face and pointed a finger at him.

“Finn, the name is Finn. I’m not a number. I’m a person. I’m…” Finn looked confused now. “I have a name. A real name,” he said. He glared at Ben again.

Ben pressed his lips together but remained where he was. “I know.” Whatever vehement denunciation Finn had been about to blast Ben with died on his lips. His fists clenched and he looked like he was about to launch at Ben. Rey got ready to intervene.

The sound of a shuttlecraft interrupted them. They looked up. She felt Ben’s control waver and the door opened a chink. Ben knew who it was. She could feel it through him as well as her presence on the ship. Rey felt hope rise in her heart.

Ben, let me in.

Ben looked down at Rey. “I have to speak to her,” he said. Rey wasn’t sure if he even realised he was keeping her out. She nodded. She would give him space. There must be a lot he needed to say to his mother.

“She’s here to get you and Luke before the planet is destroyed.” Finn snorted. “Although I’d leave you here if it was me.”

Ben stopped, a frown on his face. “What.”

Rey shook her head. Her head was so full of other stuff she’d forgotten about the danger coming.

“Hux said it was called the Rellian Project. The First Order used it to erase all life on Tyrad, including the Resistance Base there. They’re coming here. We lost...” Rey stopped, pain swelling in her heart. She looked up at Ben, not wanting to tell him about Solia.

Ben looked confused. And like that he opened the door. Rey swayed, feeling like she was freefalling into him. She was so relived she just let him in without a murmur. She wasn’t afraid of him now. His presence in her head was a help to her more than anything. The pressure inside her ebbed and flowed and drained away but not quite all of it.

“The Rellian Project. I thought they abandoned that,” he said. His eyes looked back to where his mother’s shuttle was landing. Rey felt again the intense burst of the force from him. This time she saw some of what he saw. It looked like the end of the vision she’d had, of him standing on the top of the island with light flowing up through him and up towards the red wave. She shook her head. It hadn’t ended like that in what she’d seen before.

“We can’t leave. We have to fight it here,” he said. He grabbed her hand. “This is where it ends Rey. If we leave it’ll never end.” Rey saw again in her mind the red wave and Solia’s face as it took her away.

“No, you don’t understand. We can’t fight this. Not down here. It will destroy everything. We have to try and stop them before they use it. We have to get off this planet.”

Ben wrapped both his hands around hers. He smiled, sending confidence through their bond. She drank it down like it was her first cup of water after being trapped in her AT-AT for days by a Jakku sandstorm.

“The force, in this place, is strong. It will not be destroyed,” he said. She wanted to reach for him and never let him go. Did he know what he was doing to her by opening and shutting their bond like this? Her mind was spinning and all she could think of was getting him off this place.

“What. No. Ben. We have to go,” she said. Ben stepped back. She nearly screamed when she felt the shutters go up again. His face held a determination that frightened her. In her heart she knew he wasn’t going to leave. Her mind nearly went blank and her heart began to race as she imagined the same fate for Ben as for Solia.

“Ben, please. I lost Solia today. I can’t lose anyone else. I can’t lose you.” The last of the fog swept away as a chill wind picked up about them. Rey shivered, from both cold and fright.

Ben frowned. “Solia.” The bond was open again and Rey didn’t know how she remained standing. He came close and touched her on the side of her head. She felt him slide into her mind, his forceful presence looking at her from the inside. He was very disciplined this time, looking only for what had happened as the Rellian Project had destroyed the Resistance Base and how it had taken Solia. She could tell he did his best not to look around any more than necessary but the image of Hux kissing her crashed through her thoughts in spite of her attempts not to think about it. Ben, for his part tried not to look but was just as unable to stop himself from looking even as she tried to stop herself from thinking. She saw him press his lips together as his face took on the look of a thundercloud. He pulled his hand away and the bond went dark.

Rey felt numb. She cursed the bond that she seemed to have no control over and that he switched on and off with impunity. If this went on any longer she was going to… pressure built within her like she was somehow going to lose control of this thing inside her. No! She pulled on the force for strength.

“I didn’t want him to kiss me. He just…” Ben stepped back, bitterness flowing across the bond. She pushed it away in sheer self-protection. Ben blinked feeling her shut the bond this time. Rey was surprised that she could indeed manipulate the bond as he did. Ben scowled, misinterpreting her action.

“It was not my place. I shouldn’t have looked.” Rey tried to open up to him again and show him the rest but his end of the bond was shut. She could have screamed with frustration. What was the use of a bond if it was just another means for miscommunication?

“What are you doing to her,” Finn demanded.

“I only meant to see the Rellian Project,” Ben said. He turned away to walk up the path to the top of the Island. Rey began to follow him but Finn grabbed her shoulder.

“Come on. If he wants to stay here let him,” Finn said. Rey turned on him, her frustration boiling over.

“Finn. Don’t you dare. He’s changed. He doesn’t deserve to die. I won’t let him die.”

Finn stepped away from her, his expression closed off. Rey bit down on a curse. This was not Finn’s fault and she shouldn’t be taking it out on him. She tried to get her head in order and answer him properly.

“He’s not your friend or whatever you think he is now. He’s a murderer and he’ll turn you against everything you stand for and everyone who loves you.”

Rey felt the twin blades of guilt and shame twist in her chest just below her breastbone, cutting into the vital places in her heart. She felt tears spring to her eyes. What had she expected? Just because her feelings about Ben, for Ben, had changed didn’t mean anyone else had changed their mind about him.

“Finn, I…” She shook her head. Rey hated the choice in front of her. Her heart wanted, needed, Ben but she couldn’t turn her back on Finn. Finn drew close and placed a hand on her arm. His eyes were soft and pleading.

“Rey, come with me.” Rey shook her head. She knew Finn had her best interests at heart so it grieved her to refuse him. But it had been like this before, Finn reaching only for safety from the moment and Rey not wanting to let another down, just like in Maz’ castle on Takodana.

“No, I won’t leave him here to die.” They looked into each other’s eyes. Finn was stronger than before. He was no longer a man wanting to run from the First Order. He wanted to fight. But he was still afraid. He was her friend, always would be. She didn’t want this to be a rift between them but it was becoming one. Something else to add to that awful feeling that was building up inside her again.

If she stayed here with Finn that awful feeling would only grow. She pulled her arm from Finn’s grasp and turned away, following Ben.

“Ben, wait,” she called out. He stopped but didn’t turn around. His head was bowed when she caught up to him. She didn’t try and reach across the bond this time, worried that if he kept her out she wouldn’t be able to contain herself.

“Don’t follow me Rey,” he said. “Finn is right. I’m a murderer. The dark side will always be there in me. I won’t be responsible for leading you down that road.”

“No-one’s leading me anywhere Ben.” She could have screamed. Everything she wanted stood before her and he was going to leave and take it with him.

“Ben. I don’t know what happened but the way I feel has changed. I can’t lose you. When I first met you, I…you scared the hell out of me. I thought I was going to die. And I was so angry about what you did. But I’ve seen a different side of you. You’ve changed. I know you’d take back what you did if you could.” She stopped when he closed his eyes and his face paled.  

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to bring that up again…”

Ben swayed and stumbled.

“Ben, I’m sorry. Please let me help you.”

He shook his head. He opened his mouth to say something but it was cut off when he held his head and tipped forward.  Rey caught him but he was heavier than she expected. All she could do was lower him to the ground.

“Ben.” Her voice reflected her panic. “Ben, what’s wrong.”

He tried to say something again but she couldn’t hear it. She tried to pull him back up but couldn’t so she settled for holding him up in a sitting position. He leaned against her, his face so pale it was almost translucent. Rey tried to feel what was going on across their bond but was repelled by that painful prickling. That barrier of thorns, as she thought of it, was there between them again. Outright fear gripped her. It wasn’t Ben doing that. She could feel his consciousness slipping away.

“Ben. Ben, what is it. Stay with me.” Rey looked about. She could just see Finn’s retreating back. But no-one else. She yelled at the top of her voice but the rising wind carried her voice away and Finn didn’t respond. Rey closed her eyes and tried to find Luke through the force but again pain pushed her back like a hedge of thorns was planted about her.

Ben shuddered and lifted his head.

“Ben. Please. What’s going on?” This time he managed to get a word out, his voice weak and raspy.

“ _Snoke_.”

Rey could feel her veins turn to ice. How could Snoke reach so far across space like this? Maybe he wasn’t so far away. Rey tried to push through the pain that surrounded her every time she tried to reach out in the force. Brute force only caused her to feel dizzy. She tried to feel around its edges but was beaten back.

Grandfather, please help me.

There was no reply so she kept trying to push out. Ben reached up and touched a shaky hand to her temple. She felt him seep into her mind and weak though he was, together they were stronger, as long as he continued the contact. She pushed against the prickling pain and managed to brush against Luke’s mind, letting her alarm flash through. She felt Luke’s mind grip them both through the force, giving them strength.

Rey turned all her thoughts back to Ben and pushed into his mind. Ben sucked in a deep breath as though he’d just managed to pull himself to the surface of something. Fear washed over Rey from Ben. Fear of Snoke. In Ben’s mind, Snoke’s power was immense. She saw flashes of terrible memories. Torturous scenes of punishment and humiliation. Rey grew angry. She would make Snoke pay for all he had done to her and to Ben.

Ben’s fingers on her temple pressed harder.

“Control your emotions Rey or they will control you,” he said. “You can’t fight Snoke with the dark side. I tried that and only ended up deceived and manipulated.” Rey didn’t want to listen, her life had been so messed up by Snoke and now Gem. A little worm of doubt writhed in the back of her mind about Gem. Was she deceived and manipulated too. Gem had hurt her so much. It seemed easier to hate as a way to deal with the pain of her life.

“Snoke did this to you, to me. We have to stop him,” she said.

“Yes,” Ben said “but not the way you’re thinking. He’s still trying to pull you to his side, just like me. It would be so easy for us just to go to him but we will never be free. We will never be happy,” he said. Rey looked at Ben, the gentle wonder in his eyes as he gazed at her was followed by love and a sense of light and life flowing through him to her.

“Don’t be tempted by the dark or you’ll end up like me.”

Rey could feel his consciousness slipping away again. She tried to give him strength but wasn’t sure what she was doing.

_Remember the light you gave him on Dastron._

Of course. Had she become blind? Why hadn’t she thought of this before? Thank you grandfather. Rey closed her eyes and pulled on the light. She buried herself in Ben’s mind even as it was slipping away from him and let the light flow through her. She could feel the light grow bright and so she pushed as deep as possible into his mind.

It was almost like a howl of anger. Pressure came from everywhere against her, pushing her down, smothering the light. Rey fought back by letting go of everything and just focussing on the light coming to her. It twisted about her, filling every corner of her being. She let it loose and smiled as it pushed out, sweeping everything before it, drowning everything in its path. Ben was right. This was how to fight Snoke.

In that moment Rey felt the least alone that she had ever felt. It wasn’t just Ben and his rising consciousness. There were others. Was it Luke? She could feel her grandfather. But it was more than that. There were so many that she couldn’t tell who they were or how many they were.

_Rey_

Her grandfather’s voice. More than his voice. It was like many voices.

_We’re here, we’re all here. Stay and we will fight together_.

Images flashed in her mind. Some were from Ben’s mind, some from her own. Past and present meshed together.

“Ben! Rey!”

Rey opened her eyes. Ben was holding her, his eyes closed. He opened his eyes, dark pools of emotion that pulled her in. She felt as though she were falling from a great height as she gazed up at him.

“Ben, are you alright.” It was Leia. Luke’s hand was on Rey’s shoulder. She felt others there surrounding them.

“Yes mother,” Ben said as his mother knelt and wrapped an arm about him. He didn’t take his eyes of Rey though. He spoke in a soft murmur.

“More than once you’ve saved me from the monster in my mind.”

“It was Snoke, wasn’t it?” Luke said. “How did it happen?”

Ben closed his eyes and looked down, shaking his head.

“I let the dark side in and Snoke just came along for the ride.”

“It’s got to be more than that,” Luke muttered. Ben looked sheepish for a moment as he leaned in to his mother.

“I told you Luke, the First Order is coming here to destroy this place,” Leia said. “This Rellian Project utterly destroyed the surface of Tyrad. We have to leave.”

Rey found herself speaking at the same time as Ben and saying the same word.

“No!”

Everyone looked at her, surprised that she would agree with Ben. Ben sat upright as Leia released her hold on him. He was gazing at Rey with wonder again. It was the kind of look that could go to a girl’s head.

“Um. Ben’s right. We need to fight it here,” she said. Luke looked at her, a searching look in his eye.

“My grandfather spoke to me,” she said. She knew what was coming next and she kicked herself for spending the whole flight from Tyrad in a gloom. Oh, except for the bit where she stupidly got into a fight with Phasma. If she’d been a proper Jedi she would have used her time wisely to write it all down and meditate on it. What if she’d forgotten something?

“Tell us,” Luke said. Rey blinked. No writing. She felt like she’d been given an early mark or an extra helping of Corellian fudge.

“You can write it down later,” Luke said, a stern tilt to his head. Ben chuckled. Rey glared at him and he bit his lip trying to keep a straight face.

Rey looked up at the top of the island and took a breath.

“I saw Ben walk to the top of the island. He was alone. There was a red wave coming. It destroyed everything including Ben. My grandfather told me not to let him go up there alone. He warned me that Tyrad was already lost.”

“Is that all,” Luke said.

“Yes…No. Wait. Ben raised his hands before the red wave came and light shot out from him but it wasn’t enough. Then Grandfather said not to let him go there alone.”

There was silence for a few moments.

“I know what I have to do uncle,” Ben said. “I know what can stop this but you’re right, I can’t do it alone.”

Ben frowned.

“Do you still have Hux in custody? I need to speak to him.” Just as he finished saying that the sound of a ship engine grew loud behind them. They all jumped to their feet only to see Phasma’s ship take off and fly overhead. Rey knew Hux was in the ship and she got the feeling they weren’t intending on just hanging about in orbit while they sorted out custody and payment issues.

Leia huffed.

“I thought I’d convinced them not to take Hux. He belongs in a Republic prison.”

Ben looked shocked. “Hux is on _that_ ship.” He laughed. “That must have really put a dent in his ego.”

Leia pulled out a communicator.

“Chewie, make sure they don’t let Phasma’s ship leave the system. They plan to take Hux,” she said. Chewie howled through the communicator his reply. Rey caught a movement from Ben out of the corner of her eye. She turned to find him looking away, his arms wrapped about himself. He was closed down more than ever and Rey instinctively moved towards him. She tried to push against his mental shutters but they were immovable.

“What’s wrong,” she said. The moment she touched him he spun around and pulled her into his arms. Crushed up against him she couldn’t see his face. She could feel both Luke and Leia looking at them with interest but she didn’t care. She just wanted to be there for Ben.

“Whatever it is, let me help,” she said. She felt him open his mind just a little and felt the pain of memories elicited by a few words from Chewbacca had brought him. Rey resolved to do her best to be there to help him.

Finn and Sanjo came running up the hill.

“They took Hux and Kari,” Finn yelled ahead. He held her satchel in his hand. She hadn’t realised she’d left it behind. She assumed that meant Imri and Phasma were not planning on meeting up with the Resistance again so had tossed her stuff out when they had the opportunity.

She felt Ben go still. She hoped Finn wasn’t going to get up into Ben’s face again. She really had to try and get those two to get on. She wriggled herself out of Ben’s hold. He let her go with some reluctance. When she took a step back to survey the situation she realised it wasn’t Finn that Ben was staring at. She felt a frission of something bright and uncertain come from Ben. Sanjo walked up to him and they stood looking at each other.

“You’re going to teach me about the force,” Sanjo said.

Ben shook his head and turned away. “No.” He waved a hand towards his uncle. “You have a teacher standing there. I’m one of your deathwalkers. You don’t want me teaching you.”

Everyone was quiet and more than one mouth fell open. Sanjo squared his shoulders and took a breath.

“My sister said she saw a deathwalker in my future. She was afraid I would become a deathwalker too. But it’s not as she saw it. You used to be a deathwalker and you will be my teacher.”

Ben laughed.

“Used to be a deathwalker.” Ben moved away from Sanjo at a disdainful pace. “What if I still walk with those who seek the power of death as you state it? What do you want to learn from me? How to bend the force against its will? It won’t give you what you want.”

“I’m not here to find a deathwalker. I’m here to find a teacher.”

Ben spun around, his eyes dark and intense, the scar across his face prominent and cruel as he stalked towards Sanjo like a prowling animal. Sanjo looked uncertain and visibly quailed when Ben loomed over him. Rey had to give the kid credit, he never broke eye contact.

“You already have a teacher. You don’t need me.” Rey felt like she was a on a roller coaster of emotions coming from Ben. She might not be able to get inside his head and see what was going on or speak to him but she was still getting the feedback from his emotions. Whatever this bond was it was getting stronger. Maybe it was this planet. Luke hadn’t wanted to continue her training here before. Maybe she still wasn’t ready. She was still trying to get her head around the past week as it was.

Sanjo swallowed but held his ground. Ben’s jaw flexed, staring down at Sanjo. He spun away.

“If we survive today I’ll discuss it with my uncle. His word will be final.”

Finn exploded. “What? No! You can’t let him teach Sanjo. Luke, this is…is unbelievable. Kylo Ren shouldn’t be teaching anybody anything. I…”

Finn’s words died on his lips when Luke turned to him with a stern look. “My own council will I keep on who should be trained and by whom.”

Finn’s mouth fell open. A shadow came across his face.

“Ren said you didn’t ask me to train because you see darkness in my future.” Ben froze, his shoulders slumping but he didn’t turn around. Rey could feel regret twisting inside of him. Was he letting her in more or was this bond getting stronger. It occurred to Rey that Ben wasn’t as anti-Finn anymore as Finn was anti-Ben. Yes, Ben had many regrets and though what he did to Finn was not his greatest regret, regret for hurting Finn was still one of them. Rey was heartened by this.

Luke crossed his arms over his chest and sighed, looking down for a moment as though collecting his thoughts.

“It’s not just about whether you should be trained Finn but who should train you and this is not yet clear to me.”

Finn stared at Luke then Rey and back at Luke then at Ben and scowled.

“Do I get a choice in this, ‘cause if I do it won’t be him.”

“It won’t be Ben,” Luke said. Ben half turned back. Rey could feel the mix of emotions from relief to hurt. Was it because Luke would so quickly agree that Ben wouldn’t teach Finn? Did Luke doubt him?

“Ben already has a student.” Luke smiled at Sanjo.

Sanjo jumped and let out a whoop. Rey could feel Ben’s emotions spin away from hurt to hope but then back to self doubt. Ben huffed and stalked off. Sanjo, a determined look on his face, went to follow him. Rey put a hand on Sanjo’s shoulder. Sanjo looked at her with a dark expression but then looked down as though he was ashamed. Rey took her hand away not wanting to make Sanjo uncomfortable.

“Let me talk to him,” Rey said. Sanjo pressed his lips together but nodded. Rey ran to catch up to Ben.

“Wait,” she called and he slowed his pace to allow her to catch up. When she came beside him he forced a smile but his eyes were full of storms.

“Ben. What’s wrong?” They turned a corner and he stopped and looked down at her. He breathed in a shaky breath.

“Snoke was right. I will never teach you. I will forever look at you from afar. You are the light in my life and I will have any scrap of you that I can but always there is a reason for me and you to go separate ways.”

Rey could do little more than stare at him with her jaw on the ground. “What are you talking about?”

He shook his head and she could feel him shutting down and backing away again, like he’d let himself relax and was now on guard again. “I know what I feel for you is more than you will ever feel for me but I can’t help wanting what I can’t have.”

Rey felt her heart crashing about her chest as she stared up at him. Damn him for being so beautiful when he was sad, angry, confused, anything really. Why did she have to fall in love with the biggest tsunami of mixed-up-ness in the galaxy? Because every time she saw him her heart crashed the start gates in her chest like an illegally modified pod-racer.

“Ben. Don’t be an idiot or I’m going to have to go back to the Falcon and find my staff and whack you over the head with it.”

He blinked, confused. She could feel him trying to feel along their bond for information. She let him in and he stumbled into her mind like he’d expected to hit a closed door instead.

_I love you Ben Solo. Kylo Ren not so much but if he behaves I’ll tolerate him._

They stood there just looking at each other. Ben’s mind was whirl of images of her from the first moment in the forest on Takodana to her leaving him on Starkiller and the moment she barrelled him into the escape pod and the horror of impaling her with her lightsabre to an old woman who held an old man that she thought she recognised. She was mesmerised by all of the images of her as he saw her and almost missed his current thoughts in the background. It was like a cog turned in his mind opening a tentative door to hope and joy. Rey smiled up at him as he took her hand and held it against his chest. She felt the synchronous beat of their lives together as her hand covered his heart. His words when they came to her were so wonder filled and soft she could have sworn it was a boy who spoke to her.

_You love me._


	36. Chapter 36

Leia paced back and forth.

“Do you really think he’s ready for this?” She wrung her hands as Luke stood like a durasteel pillar. He would give anyone else the impression of the implacable and enigmatic Jedi but she could tell he was uncertain too. Leia sighed, she was used to fighting. She’d fought to get her son back and now that she had him she wasn’t sure what to do. The last thing she wanted was to chase him back to Snoke’s side. The terrible cost that had been paid still hurt but she couldn’t help the joy it gave her to see him standing in this place, in the clothes she’d had made for him, the mantle of darkness gone and the light returning in his eyes. She knew this is what Han would have wanted for him. But things were still so tenuous and new.

“We only just got him back. How can he be expected to take on a student? It’s too much,” she said. She looked at Sanjo. He was a good kid and he had all the right qualities. She could feel the force in him, bright and strong. Ben still had the darkness in him but she could feel the light in him growing stronger. She reached out to Ben through the force with just the barest touch unable to help herself. She shouldn’t need the reassurance of it but it helped her to feel the light in him growing stronger. Still, she worried.

“Shouldn’t it wait until he’s grown in the light more,” she said.

Luke was silent, doing his Jedi mini meditation thing that used to drive her nuts, and still did a little if she was honest. Sanjo looked more disappointed with each of her words but she couldn’t help it. She wanted to protect her son. The son she’d failed in so many ways before.

“It will be of benefit to them both,” Luke said. He smiled and she felt his warmth there as it used to be. “When you teach someone it’s not just the student who changes.” Leia nodded. She knew this of course through her own efforts to train up young interns from her days in the senate.

Luke rubbed his chin. “Besides, I sense that Ben is already starting to link with the kid.”

Leia shook her head. “He always did form bonds easily. Too easily in some cases.” She pushed away the thought of Snoke wheedling his way into her son’s life. This would soon be ended. She wandered away, arms wrapped about herself, thinking of where she’d gone wrong with her son. It was all too obvious now but back then she’d thought she’d known better. Without thinking she started to walk along the path that Rey and Ben had taken. She’d so wanted to talk to Ben before he’d disappeared among the rocks surrounding the path. She hoped that Rey would be able to help him.

Leia smiled as she thought of Rey. She’d done one thing right in sending her off to train with Luke. Rey had surpassed all her hopes. She bit her lip then smiled. She didn’t want to give too much thought to one of her fondest wishes but…she stopped. She saw them…together…Ben kissed her on the forehead. Rey reached up and kissed him on the mouth and Ben kissed her back.

Leia’s heart stalled, started, stalled, flipped, raced and then skidded into a slide turn as she retreated back down the hill before she could disturb them. Did she really see... Was her dream going to come true? Tears started to trickle down her face. She ran into Luke who had started to follow her. Without a word she threw herself into her surprised brother’s arms and sobbed while he patted her on the back. This could be the best day of her life. No…the best day would be…O Leia, don’t get ahead of yourself.

 

Finn clenched his fists around the top of Rey’s satchel. His name was Ayerus Windu. He was a descendant of the Jedi. He could be a Jedi – except. Why couldn’t Luke teach him about the force? And why did it have to be _him_ who told him his name? He couldn’t believe it. First, he stole Rey and now they were actually going to let Kylo Ren (he would always be Kylo Ren to Finn) teach Sanjo about the force. This kid was too damn good for the likes of Kylo Ren. He hugged Rey’s satchel to his chest. Why couldn’t they all just be Luke’s students? He could teach all of them couldn’t he, not just Rey.

He felt warmth against his chest. He looked down. There was something warm inside Rey’s satchel. He held it up to look at it. There was a vibration inside that he could feel. Slowly he opened the top and peeked in.

He wasn’t surprised by most of the stuff in there, practical stuff that someone like Rey would carry. He wasn’t looking at those things though. Something inside glowed. The vibration came again and he felt the pull of something that all at once was both ancient and new. Without thinking he reached in and pulled out a stone, a crystal. It wasn’t remarkable in many ways but in others it was mesmerising. He could feel it connect with him as though power could flow through it to him. He stared at it admiring the beauty of its form and inner light. It was like it knew his name. Ayerus Windu, Jedi and descendant of Jedi. He ran his fingers over its edges and heard its song. There were adventures ahead, a winding path that held light and shadows, joys and battles. He looked into its depths and felt its connection with the galaxy about him.

“Keep it.”

Finn jumped and he nearly dropped the crystal. Rey looked down at him with a smile on her face. She had returned with Ben, who was now talking to Sanjo. He looked down. None of that seemed to matter as much as the crystal in his hand. He reminded himself that he’d taken it from among Rey’s things. She was particular about people not invading her things, a hangover from her growing up on Jakku.

“What? No. I don’t want to take something that belongs to you.”

Rey raised an eyebrow. “Why not? I’m giving it to you.”

Finn breathed in a shaky breath. He wanted to keep it. He looked at it again and the words just popped out of his mouth.

“Thank you.”

 

Ben felt it when the First Order ships jumped out of hyperspace. He knew those ships. He knew the people who were flying them. He knew some would survive but many would not. He knew that this place would survive but it would be changed. He knew that he had to cut the cord that Snoke still held him with and there was only one way to do that. He breathed and reached out to Rey, Luke, his mother. They were easy to link with, as the bonds were already there. But he would need to link with Sanjo and even Finn if he could. He reached out to Sanjo and felt the way already starting to open. Finn was still an icy wall that needed melting. He would need all their help if he was going to end this.

 

Poe’s blood froze when the First Order fleet and the black ships of the Rellian Project emerged from hyperspace and loomed across the black expanse like a curtain of death. They outnumbered the Resistance fleet and the few Republic ships that had come with Thorceline. A movement below him caught his eye. He frowned as he watched Phasma’s ship exit the atmosphere of Ahch-To then do a full stop. The First Order fleet was now all over its escape route. It tipped one way then another in a bizarre sequence of moves like someone who wasn’t sure which way they wanted to go. The First order sat in space and did nothing.

Poe hit the comm to speak to Akbar’s ship.

“Orders,” he said. There was a pause as he waited for a reply.

“Hold your fire. We’re currently negotiating.” Poe hissed, his hand hovering over his trigger button.

He watched as the black ships of the Rellian Project sank below the main First Order fleet and formed a circle. The hair on the back of Poe’s neck prickled.

“Tell the Admiral the ships of the Rellian Project are entering formation. It won’t take them much to re-position the ships to fire on the planet.” Poe twisted to get a look at the planet below. “Why are the General and the others still down there?”

Silence. Maybe it was some kind of stand-off…for now. Poe ground his teeth. Either they needed to start shooting or get the hell out. His fingers ghosted above the trigger. He took a breath and forced himself to relax. He was too good an officer and pilot to disobey an order.

A transmission came through. He was ready to start the assault as soon as the word….a voice he hadn’t expected spoke.

“Poe.” His heart jumped and he lent forward.

“Imri.”

“Poe. I’m sorry…”

“Imri. I can’t speak right now. Can’t you see…”

“Hux has shot Phasma. She’s wounded. He’s trying to get back to the First Order.”

“What? Imri, are you alright.”

“He got my blaster. You have to stop him. I can’t go back…” The transmission crackled and went dead. Poe wasted no time. He hit his comm button.

“Akbar. Hux has control of Phasma’s ship. Can you deploy a tractor beam…”

There was a flash as an explosion burst from the side of Phasma’s ship. Poe watched in horror as it listed and began to fall towards the planet. It was burning but hadn’t broken up. He hit his comm to send a transmission back to Imri.

“Imri, get out. Get to an escape pod.”

There was no reply. The ship jerked as a tractor beam latched onto the ship. Poe breathed. His heart stopped again when the ship began to break up, fire ripping along the side towards the engine.

“Imri. Get out.” He could only watch in agony as the ship lost integrity and became a fireball. Had he seen the escape pods? He hit his scanners.

“BB-8. Were any escape pods jettisoned before it blew.” It was a moment’s work for the little droid.

Four. There were four pods.

“How many were on the ship.” Poe said.

Six. Four escape pods. Six people.

The scanners picked up their locations. Three pods were floating in the tractor beam from Akbar’s ship. They would soon be recovered. Another had been blown towards the side of space where the First Order waited. If Poe was fast he might be able to get there and use his smaller tractor beam to drag it back towards the Resistance. Except a light cruiser had broken off from the main First Order fleet before anyone had realised. It dove towards the last escape pod and snagged it with a tractor beam of its own, dragging it back like a prize towards the Finalizer.

A transmission came through from Akbar’s ship.

“We have Kari Hux, Captain Phasma and one of her troopers.” Poe felt his heart clench and his stomach turn as he watched the last pod disappear into the cruiser as it then disappeared into the Finalizer. Who was in that pod?

 

Rey felt it when Ben linked with her. It was more than just their force bond. It heightened that feeling of being at one in everything. The force bond was something gentle that existed there in the background but the link was direct and forceful. She knew as Ben did how this was going to go down. Ben, the maelstrom of dark and light as the force gathered about him of its own accord, bending in to him in fractal patterns that defied logic. She could feel the others there as well. Finn’s fledgling power was like something new and precious, an emerging sprig of green in the dessert but it held power like that of a mighty tree. Sanjo was so full of colours that spilled out into the force to create powerful connections in ways too intricate to fathom. She could feel Luke’s power flowing like a river deep and wide and connected in thick tendrils to the people and planet about him. Leia’s light was pure. The purity of her light outshone everyone around her. Rey reached out to Ben and saw how he saw her light in the force, golden and warm and steady.

“What’s going on,” Finn said. “This feels weird.”

“Don’t resist if Finn,” Luke said. “Let go your emotions and feel the force. Ben needs our help if he is going to defeat Snoke.” Finn scowled and shook his head. Through Ben she could feel Finn’s revulsion at helping Ben in any way and the way Ben covered his hurt. Rey worried that Finn would not be able to let go his hatred for Ben and felt him withdraw.

She placed a hand on Finn’s shoulder. “Trust us.” She tried to pull the light to him but for some reason it just muddled around him. It just hung about like some kind of lost nerfling. She didn’t understand or know what to do.

Finn looked at her. She saw his jaw work for a moment and then he nodded his head. She breathed a sigh of relief when she felt him relent and open up to Ben. That’s when the light flowed into him as it was supposed to. She smiled down at him and his answering smile held a flash of the strength she knew was there.

“I need to go to the top of the island,” Ben said. Rey didn’t need to think about her words.

“I’m coming with you.” There was warmth in his eyes when he looked at her.

“So am I,” Sanjo said. Surprise this time. He was still getting used to the idea of a student. 

“The rest of us must go to the temple,” Luke said. Rey nodded, yes. They needed to link with the power of the force that was there.

“Someone needs to be at the tree,” Ben said. He looked at Sanjo.

“You must go to the tree,” he said. Rey felt Sanjo’s resistance immediately.

“No. I’m your student I should go with you.”

If there was a time when Ben looked like Luke it was right then. “And as you master I am asking that you go to the tree. I will find it much easier to link with its power if you’re there.”

Sanjo’s mouth dropped open for a moment then he closed it and looked down.

“I believe your father is already there,” Ben said. Rey frowned and Sanjo looked up.

“Your father is not as insensitive to the force as we might have thought.”

Sanjo’s mouth was dropping open again as he turned to head back towards the tree.

“Sanjo,” Ben called out. The young Dastronian turned back with a hopeful expression. Ben dashed his hopes gently but firmly.

“Whatever happens, whatever you feel or see, it’s very important that you do not leave the tree.” Rey felt a flash of the force as a look passed between Ben and Sanjo. Sanjo’s lips pressed together before he nodded and turned away. Rey frowned, was Ben testing Sanjo or did he sense something more.

“Rey, you should go to the…

“…the top of the island with you as my grandfather warned me,” Rey said.

Ben scowled and she could feel a shaft of pain in him, a fear of loss and grief. “It’s not safe for you. If this doesn’t work the temple will be your only protection.” Rey reached out to him and this time when she pulled the light it flowed to him like water downhill. Her words were fighting words but her understanding of his pain and fear gentled them.

“Don’t you dare insist that I not come with you or…” she held his gaze…“I’m going to have to chase you up there with my lightsabre.”

Ben opened his mouth to say something then closed it only to open it again. He looked so bereft, agonised by the thought of losing her she actually thought about doing as he asked…for a nanosecond. She felt his fear and determination to protect her and she loved him for it but it was going to get them all killed if she let him have his way in this. He tried one last time through their bond.

_I can’t let you die._

_I won’t let you die either._

She reminded him of her vision of how none of what they were about to do would succeed if he was alone on the top of the island. He breathed in a shaky breath and nodded.

“Alright.”

They turned and continued their ascent the rest of the way to the top of the island.

 

Gem could feel it, the power of the kyber crystal as it built. The power was greater than her and she touched the holocron that hung about her neck, reassuring herself that it would give her the strength she needed to defeat her sister. It was her only salvation. It was the only good thing Galena Kenobi had brought into her life. Taking it from the woman who had stolen her father away had been the greatest day of her life. Now she was poised for an even greater day when she would finally take back what had been taken from her. She was the heir of Palpatine. No-one else.

Supreme Leader Snoke had foreseen it, the rise of the granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine. His pure line, unblemished by Kenobi blood, would stand next to Skywalker blood. Kylo Ren would return and together they would rule the galaxy.

Gem was careful to hide her thoughts from the Supreme Leader. She knew she had her grandfather’s gift of dark side foresight and she had foreseen Snoke’s death at the hands of Kylo Ren. When her sister was also dead they would be unstoppable. The other knights would accept Kylo Ren back when they were reminded of his power. The grandson of Darth Vader would stand beside the granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine and together they would be unstoppable. But first she had to kill her sister.

 

KYLO REN. COME TO ME AND I WILL SAVE HER LIFE.

Ben’s steps faltered. He could feel Snoke’s power like a grappling hook snagged into the base of his mind. Fingers of searing cold sunk into his flesh, his thoughts, his being. Like before, the attack was sudden and brutal but this time Snoke was more circumspect and wary. Ben didn’t know what this meant but he sensed Snoke’s interest in Rey. So close to sliding into the dark side as she was, Ben had to protect her. He toned down their bond and the link between them to stop Snoke getting to her through him.

“Don’t do that Ben,” Rey said. He looked at her, how much did she feel through the bond. She was so strong it defied his logic and inflamed his longing for her.

“Don’t shut me out. I know Snoke is attacking you. Let me in and we will fight together.”

AS I SAW AT THE BEGINNING, YOUR COMPASSION FOR HER WOULD BE YOUR UNDOING. YOU CANNOT PROTECT HER FROM THE DARK SIDE. I CAN FEEL IT WITHIN HER JUST AS YOU CAN. SHE WILL NEED OUR GUIDANCE IF SHE IS NOT TO BECOME THE DESTRUCTIVE FORCE YOU FEAR.

Snoke’s words sounded so right, so convincing. His uncle couldn’t guide that kind of power…could he. Ben shook his head. He didn’t trust this show of ‘almost compassion’ from Snoke. Yes Ben, he’s lied to you before.

He looked down at Rey through the pain in his head. It was more than compassion. He couldn’t imagine the life ahead of him without her. Her love made it seem worthwhile. But he’d learned a hard lesson. Love wasn’t enough. Love must embrace truth or it was already betrayed and truth without love would tear you apart. He remembered his grandfather’s warning – Rey would become a fiend even Snoke couldn’t control.

“Ben, don’t try and protect me,” she said. Her hands slid into his, pulling him closer. He looked down at her and forced himself to recognise the truth of her strength. She was right, it worked against both of them to try and ‘protect’ her. They needed each other. He pushed past the pain and lifted his hand to cup the side of her face to open the bond link without reservation or limitation. Rey smiled up at him like she was sunshine itself.

Before he could touch her his hand shook and his body weakened, as though power were being sucked from him. It was all he could do to keep standing.

YES, SHE IS YOUR WEAKNESS KYLO REN. WHAT SHALL I DO WITH HER? IF YOU WILL NOT TURN HER THEN I WILL HAVE TO DESTROY HER.

Ben’s rage at Snoke flared but then withered as he felt pain travel back along his arm and down into his heart. It ripped and burned as Snoke growled in his mind. His vision blurred and his stomach rolled.

SHALL I RIP HER FROM YOUR HEART, THIS BOND THAT HAS WEAKENED YOU? IT WOULD FREE YOU BOTH.

No he didn’t want to be free of Rey. He felt the war of light and dark inside him, tearing him apart. He felt for the light and hung on as he had before.

There was pain in his knees and he realised he’d fallen to the ground. He couldn’t breathe. His vision grew dark. He looked up into Rey’s terrified face, her body frozen. He was too weak to reach for her. He watched as her face reluctantly turned away from him and she looked up.

He could feel the presence emerge behind him. Dark, heavy, numbing, suffocating power. Snoke was here, in person, and his power dwarfed Ben’s own. It was a risk with his uncle close by but he could feel behind Snoke’s control there was a rising desperation. Why? Why had Snoke physically left the safety of his citadel ship…

Dark, searing pain surged across his mind, obliterating his thoughts before he could wonder any more. Snoke’s power seemed limitless. Ben knew he was an insect hoping to be even as powerful as Snoke’s shadow. A deep well of darkness weighed on Ben until he had no hope. Snoke was here to drag him back to his side. He had no choice. His mind slowed down, he knew what he needed to do but his body would not obey. The force slipped through his fingers as though it never knew him. Tears ran down his face as he looked up at Rey, her visage bursting now with rage.

He was transfixed. He’d seen that face, that fury in her before. Starkiller base. The first time they’d fought. It had frightened him then and it frightened him now.

Snoke stepped forward to Ben’s side and his hand came down upon Ben’s head. It’s weight bending his head forward as though he bowed before a god. Sharp nails dug into his skin, shooting tiny needles of darkness into his mind and weakening the light within him.

“HE. IS. MINE. Little girl.” Every word Snoke spoke sapped power from Ben. Snoke was taking him away. Back to the loneliness, the anger, he was taking him back to be a deathwalker as Sanjo had so accurately called those who tuned to the darkside. He would walk as one dead, no longer in the light. Desperate for one last glimmer of the light he reached for Rey, to just feel her in his life before he became Snoke’s possession once again. His strength crumbled. He felt as much as saw Snoke extend his other hand towards Rey, his finger pointing. Ben made one last plea with the last of his fight.

_Grandfather please._

For a moment, a breath, Ben felt as though he were free but then he saw the light collect at the tips of Snoke’s fingers, blue-white and deadly. He felt something alarming build within Rey in response. The hair on the back of his neck prickled as electricity charged the air about them.

“You brought the temple down,” Rey said. “You were always there. Always there to keep me down. It was you.” In growing amazement Ben felt the force build like a sun within Rey, even as it seemed to drain from him, leaving him all but empty. In amazement he found he had just a little bit of strength left and he reached out to link with her. He tried with all his might through the bond to send power to her. He withdrew as the force seared him. But it wasn’t Snoke who’d done it. The force within her was not warm and bright like a sunlit meadow as it usually was but instead it was the annihilating inferno of a sun’s corona. The force built with wild and unknowable power within her until she could no longer contain it. Her face shone with it almost too bright to look at.  

For the barest moment Ben saw uncertainty in Snoke’s gaze as he looked down at Rey but then he struck with all of his power. It was the spark that ignited the fire. Light, brilliant and searing peeled back the visible world about him and he saw another plain.

In that moment Ben saw what, or who, stood with them. Obi Wan Kenobi stood behind Rey. Another man, tall and striking in his serenity, stood behind Obi Wan. The force flowed through the both of them, through Rey and met Snoke’s power head on. There were others. It was like he stood on a wide plain and men and women stood in light and shadow. He could see his uncle Luke and by his side the shining figure of Yoda. Beside his mother he could see the shadow of his father. Sanjo stood before the tree with his sister at his back. His father Mikalas stood there also, a woman who had his mother’s touch of royalty stood beside him. Even Finn did not stand alone. Ben recognised the face of the Jedi Master that appeared in Finn’s file.

Ben looked about. Who stood with him?

_I’m here Ben._

He turned and saw the smiling face of his grandfather, hand outstretched to him. Without hesitation he took his grandfather’s hand and felt his strength return. Back in the physical world he didn’t want to alert Snoke so he remained kneeling by his side.

Ben let his senses expand out again and realised there was someone who did stand alone. Snoke. He stood in his own power. Power that he took from others. Ben could see it, the dark link the Snoke still had with him, sucking power from him. With growing wonder he saw that dark link start to disrupt. The light was too strong. The force lightning from Snoke's finger had sparked the force at breaking point within Rey and the charged air ignited. She looked like three in one as the girl and the force ghosts that stood with her caught the dark power and turned it into a weapon.

Ben saw it with clarity. There was only one last thing to do. The force drew from the earth beneath. The air above. He reached for Rey, he reached for his grandfather. He reached for Luke, his mother, everyone. Thick tendrils of power bound them to each other. Alone they were prey. Together they were equal to anything.

He heard Snoke’s roar as their combined power flowed through the dark sun of Rey and sent the twisted robed figure reeling back. Ben saw Snoke flee, turn and disappear through his opening in the force.

His weight no longer holding him down Ben pushed to his feet. In the sudden void left by Snoke’s flight Ben felt the darkness gathering above. Now that Snoke was gone the Rellian Project would fire. Ben closed his eyes and let himself meld with all those around him. When he opened his eyes and looked up he could see it begin. The red point of light as the Rellian Project funneled the power of the dark down towards Ahch-To. He pulled the force to him in through each link in whatever way it came. He reached out to the world about him, to all the other voices that now murmured their awakening.

Ahch-To answered Ben’s call. The light came like it had once before, like tiny stars. They built and subsumed his body, becoming thick streams of rising power. Another stream rose from the temple where Luke directed it upwards. A third stream twisted upwards from the tree where Sanjo and his father stood. It crackled and hummed as it flowed skyward, gaining power.

Without warning the thick stream of the force twisted out over the ocean towards the islands his uncle had noted and that he’d dubbed the Starbird islands. The force stream lit another spark, a spark of something far greater than anything he’d ever felt. The sea boiled and the islands fell. In their place a great shaft of light launched skyward. Straight and true it met the red shaft of death that fell from the Rellian Project and kept going. It spread out across the sky, a brilliant shield of power that dissipated the red wave before it could form and then struck upward through the atmosphere and into space.

Then it was gone. And so was the dark power gathered by the Rellian project. Shattered and scattered until it was picked up as though it were dust by the living force of the galaxy about it and returned to its original state.

Ben looked at Rey. Her gaze was already locked onto him. He felt her reach for him. It was over. He reached for her but he never quite managed to take her hand before it all slipped away and he fell into a dark void. It was as though the galaxy itself disappeared from beneath his feet and he floated in nothingness, as though he were drifting in a dreamless sleep. He thought he heard Rey’s voice but then it was silent – nothing.

Nothing until he realised he wasn’t alone.

YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD ESCAPE ME KYLO REN.


	37. Chapter 37

It all happened so fast. Poe had been frantic at the thought of losing Imri. He hadn’t noticed the ships of the Rellian Project descend until he saw the red streams twist together and plunge towards the surface. Paralyzed, he’d expected to watch again as a world and people he loved came to a horrifying end and the next… it didn’t. A brilliant shaft of blue white light from Ahch-To had met and obliterated the angry red bolt. The Rellian ships had been cast in every direction like they were detritus, no more threat than a simple tie fighter now that they were no longer in formation.

Poe didn’t need to think about it when one of the black ships spun towards him. He lined it up and fired. Its fiery end was also the end of the standoff. Ships large and small began to move. Poe didn’t need instructions.

“This is Black Leader. Going in.” Tie fighters poured from the Finalizer and other destroyers. Resistance fighters emerged to meet them. He was glad to hear Jess Pava and Snap Wexley in the answering voices but there were a number of new voices as well. Together they speared towards the Ties and oncoming laser cannon fire straight into a dog fight.

The cruisers moved towards the fleet and began their assault. Poe was spinning and firing his X-wing at Tie fighters and Rellian ships alike, taking out as many as he could while avoiding larger First Order fire. The odds were not favorable though and Poe had a bad feeling this wasn’t going to end well for the Resistance. They needed something, an advantage.

 

Hux had been so busy congratulating himself on getting away he didn’t bother to think about the consequences. Having Imri stuffed into the escape pod with him wasn’t quite the lascivious ride he’d expected. It was mainly uncomfortable, and painful, when she managed to get another knee, finger jab or scratch into him. Her screeching voice was very close to his face and ear and he was reticent to put his hand over her mouth again after she’d bitten him. As sweet as this little Twi Lek was, she’d learnt a great deal of insubordination since she’d escaped him. Threats didn’t seem to make any difference. By the time he was rescued from the escape pod he was glad to be rid of her.

“General Hux.”

Hux silently thanked whoever might hear such things that it was Mitaka who was there to greet him as he emerged from the escape pod. He scrambled to his feet with a Stormtrooper’s help but made sure he kept a boot on the struggling Twi Lek under him. To his relief the vicious kick she aimed at him was restrained by a Stormtrooper.

“I want her confined to a level four security cell. If she escapes you will pay for it with your lives.” It gave him some measure of satisfaction to see her frightened face as she was dragged from the escape pod. He leaned in close to her and grinned.

“Don’t worry my dear. You’ll soon be back in Skath Holding where you belong,” and just for her hearing he leaned in closer to whisper in her ear. “And I’ll be along to visit soon. Very soon.” Let the vicious little witch stew on that.

He turned away. He had no patience for any histrionics. He left the spitting howling Twi Lek to the tender mercies of his Stormtroopers.

“I need an update immediately Lieutenant. We have the chance to wipe out the Resistance if we act now.”

“Um…Sir…General. You might want to clean up before you return to the Command deck.”

Hux sighed. He supposed he did appear a bit wrinkled. Not his usual fastidiously turned-out self for sure. Kari had sprayed some bacta on his face, which had numbed the burn as well, but a visit to medical was probably in order. This wasn’t the best time though. He swiped one hand down his jacket and another through his hair. If he could bear it then his troops and officers could too.

Mitaka hadn’t moved. Hux looked up. Something was off. Mitaka stood with his hands behind his back in an imitation of himself. And…

“Are you wearing someone else’s coat Lieutenant? You have the wrong insignia on your arm. ”

Hux was annoyed to see that Mitaka was smothering a grin.

“Out with it Dopheld,” he snapped.

“I have been promoted to the rank of Captain.” Hux stared at him, lost for words.

Mitaka continued. “It was a field commission.”

Hux felt a hint of nausea clutch at his stomach. “By whom.”

Mitaka swallowed but he looked Hux in the eye anyway.

“Commandant Hux.”

Hux now felt a large wave of nausea rise within him. It was with a supreme effort that he remained standing. 

“Sir. I do suggest you take a moment to clean up.”

Hux nodded. He might just have a quick look for that bottle of Corellian rum he had stashed in his quarters as well. He would need it to wash down the bitter taste of the knowledge that his father had not died sooner as he'd promised.

There was a snigger behind him. He turned around to see that the Stormtroopers hadn’t yet removed the Twi Lek.

“Be sure to tell your dad how you got that stripe on your face…Jedi Kisser.” Hux felt the blood drain from his face as the Twi Lek laughed. Rage and fear engulfed him at once. He screamed at the Stormtroopers.

“What are you still doing here? Get her to the prison block now.” The Stormtroopers didn’t move. Actually two more Stormtroopers appeared behind them. Hux’ gut clenched and his heart rattled. What was going on?

Mitaka coughed. “Sir, am I to understand you have been fraternizing with the enemy.”

The moment Hux tried to glare Mitaka down he knew it was a mistake. All he’d done was allow Imri time to fill the silence.

“You bet. He got all mushy and planted one on the lovely Rey Kenobi like he couldn’t bear to part from her.”

Hux felt his legs go mushy. If he wasn’t swamped with a sudden desire to wring the life from the Twi Lek he may well have fainted.

“Sir, we also received intelligence that you signed a document of surrender and confession.” Hux was finding it hard to breathe. It was a completely rational act, given the circumstances, but one that his father would consider treason under any circumstances. Add that to the report of having kissed Rey Kenobi and…. a flash, a premonition, snagged painfully in his psyche – his father was going to berate him in front of his entire crew like his Arkanis days. With another supreme effort he pushed the errant thought from his mind and pulled himself together.

“How dare you make such an accusation? I did no such thing. And as for Rey Kenobi…” His voice was cut off by the memory of that one stolen kiss…before she’d…for just a moment she’d been still in his arms and had let him kiss her… his face was on fire. Mortification swamped him like a cosmic wave. Was he, General Armitage Hux, tongue tied.

“Could you please accompany the General to his quarters,” Mitaka said, addressing the Stormtroopers.

“What. You can’t do this. I am your superior officer. You will not…”

The armored hand of a Stormtrooper on his shoulder halted his tirade before it got started. He spun around to address the implacable masked giants behind him.

Something was missing.

“Where did Imri go?”

“Sir, please come with us.”

“The Twi Lek, damn it. Where did she go?”

“Find and apprehend the Twi Lek,” Mitaka said. Two of the Stormtroopers spun, one speaking into his comm unit, and began to look. Hux began to follow them but the other two clamped strong hands on his shoulders.

“What. You can’t be serious. Mitaka I will have your…”

“I am following the orders of our superior officer General. You will have to discuss the matter with him.”

Hux’s mind spun. This couldn’t be happening. These were his Stormtroopers. They were trained to obey him...and his father. For one awful moment he realised there was only one person the storm troopers would obey without question, no matter what the circumstances, no matter who had taken over his ship, and he’d just shot her and left her for dead. Things couldn’t be worse.

 

Imri had slipped away without much effort while Hux had argued with his own people. Alright, so she might have helped the fray along a bit. If she didn’t know it would be foolhardy, she’d be tempted to make an appearance outside Hux’ cell just to see him there. For now she had other things to consider. Like the Resistance fleet that was about to be wiped out by the First order. From the moment she’d realised she was back on the Finalizer her mind had been ticking over a plan, several plans actually, whichever one circumstances allowed. She slipped past crates and parked assault craft and kept going. She found a door and peeked inside. There was a computer panel on one side. That was all she needed. She could create a fake host profile in moments and take control of any system she wanted.

The thing was, what should she do once she had control.

She slipped through the door and looked about. There was someone sitting at a console at the other end of the room who took no notice of what was happening behind him. If she didn’t make any noise she could sneak over to the computer panel near the door and start work. She wouldn’t need much time.

The moment her fingers slid onto the technical panel she felt like she was home. She loved a good hack as well as some computer espionage. This was going to be outright sabotage though. That could take time if she wasn’t going to get caught. She paused as she scanned the read out she’d brought up. Her eyes fell on the ships navigational log and an idea mushroomed up in her brain, cramming out any other ideas she might have had.

Near the end of the log was the coordinates for the previous location of the Finalizer. There was a little known safety sequence that allowed for an automatic return to previous coordinates in case of a catastrophic event, mainly to do with black holes and the death or incapacitation of the crew. All she would have to do was convince the Finalizer that said catastrophic event was happening and there would be nothing anyone could do to stop the First Order’s most powerful ship turning tail and running for it.

Imri smiled as her fingers worked and the commands flew into place. There were ways to get back at her tormentors. Apart from Kari, the Hux clan was very particular about reputation. If there was one person she hated more than Armitage Hux, it was his father, Brendol Hux. His reputation would not remain intact after this.

The last thing she needed to figure out was a way off the Finalizer then get passage back to her old ship. The old junker she kept for emergencies because it was the kind of thing no-one would bother buying or stealing. Actually it was the ship she’d had Rey scavenge parts for all those years ago, the lonely girl with those intelligent eyes and fierce determination. The only thing about her that had changed was her loneliness. She deserved a life with people she loved.

Imri thought about Poe. She hoped they would meet again one day. This was really the only way she could help him and the people who had become her friends. She hoped Phasma made it, although she didn’t really know how badly injured she was.

This was not the first time she’d said goodbye like this but at least this time it wasn’t because she was running from a fight. If anything, she was taking it with her.

“Hey. What are you doing?” Imri ignored the shout from the end of the room and kept entering commands. She was almost there. The footsteps grew louder. Just a few more commands…a hand on her shoulder…she hit the last key to execute.

“Get away from there.” Her chair was yanked back and she was flung out onto the floor. She rolled and sprang up into a run…and slammed into two Stormtroopers.

 

The fight wasn’t going well for the Resistance as Poe had expected. They had lost a third of their fighters in short order, most of them newer recruits with less experience. They had also lost a cruiser and several light destroyers. The First Order had also lost two destroyers and many fighters as well but they had the bigger numbers. Poe had a few more singe marks on his X-Wing and his shields had taken at least one heavy hit.

The main problem was the Finalizer. It was aptly named. Its fire power was more numerous and reached further into their ranks than any other ship on both sides. It was picking off larger craft and smaller craft alike, cutting swathes into the resistance to isolate sections of the fleet and allow other First Order ships to clean up the scraps.

A Republic ship began spewing fire, lost integrity and exploded. The only Republic ship left was Thorceline’s ship. Poe beat down the encroaching sense of doom and launched again into the fight. They had to concentrate on taking out the Finalizer and that’s where he concentrated his fire.

Having gotten in a few easy shots he began to wonder why the monolithic piece of space junk stopped firing. He watched in amazement as the Finalizer pulled away from the battle, executed a tight turn and…jumped into hyperspace.

The entire battle paused. It seemed as though everybody rushed to the windows and looked out wondering what they were missing. Had the scanners missed an asteroid field or some other pulverizing space debris heading their way? Were they being sucked into a black hole without realizing? It seemed incomprehensible…but then Poe knew.

Imri. She was on the Finalizer. There was no other explanation. Somehow she was over there and had simply done the one thing that needed to be done for the Resistance to win this fight. Poe felt something inside him let go and he let out a whoop.

The First Order ships were slow to recover from the surprise. The Resistance didn’t hesitate. Break time was over. The entertainment segment was finished. Back to work. No-one took time for demanding explanations. Now bravery and skill was a match for outright size and firepower. Poe teamed up with two more attack craft and hammered the closest First Order cruiser, causing significant damage and leaving it drifting helplessly in space.

One of the Rellian ships skimmed past within Poe’s firing range. He followed the Rellian ship as it made for the atmosphere of Ahch-To. He frowned. Where was it going? Something told him he had to follow that ship and stop it from landing. He took aim and fired. It dodged the shot. Poe pressed harder and it wove about his fire without making any connection. This was no ordinary pilot. He got the impression there was more to the pilot’s ability than mere piloting skill.

Poe pressed close to the pilot then banked and came up underneath in a spin, letting fly a swathe of fire in a curve. The ship neatly banked and avoided his laser cannon fire…most of the cannon fire. One last shot snuck through and scored a blow under the main cabin area.

Poe was relieved to see a stream of smoke tail the ship as it sank lower. Before it crashed into the sea there was an ejection. A body flung out high above the water. In disbelief Poe saw the body roll and spreadeagle itself as a glide suit unfolded. This one, whoever it was, planned on getting to the surface. He hit his comm.

“General.”

There was a beat of silence as he watched the pilot arrow down and across towards a tall pointed volcanic island.

“This is C3PO, human cy…”

“Tell the General they’re about to get company. A pilot from one of the Rellian ships. Possibly one of the Knights of Ren.” Poe cut the connection and banked back towards the atmosphere. The absence of the Finalizer was an advantage but there was still one hell of fight before this was over.

 

Rey sat in the moss and stones next to Ben’s prone form. She rested his head in her lap, her head bent over him, concentrating. She let the force flow to her and once again channeled it into him.

It still wasn’t working. No matter how much light she tried to pull to him it just milled about and seeped away. Something was stopping it. She wasn’t even sure if she could feel the bond between them, it was so thin and cold, like it was at breaking point. She breathed in and forced down her rising panic, letting it go as she let her breath out.

Ben. Where are you? I can’t find you. Come back. Ben. Come back. 

Ben was so pale. His breathing shallow and shaky. His pulse a thin thread under her fingers. He felt icy to her touch. She tried again to reach him through what of the bond she could find.

Ben. Don’t leave. Don’t go. Stay with me please.

Nothing.

Rey bent until her forehead touched his. She laced her fingers into his hair and softly kissed his temple.

“Ben, please.” A tear slid from her eye and landed on the collar of his robe. She’d tried once more to use the bond to get into his mind and see what was happening but it was locked, at least that was how it felt.

How could this be happening? They had just won one battle and now this. When would this all be over? Ben didn’t respond.

_Rey, look up._

Her grandfather’s voice.

What do I do?

_Look up. Your sister._

Rey felt a jolt of anger and shock. Gem. Something dark and ugly twisted inside her. Her sister. She was the cause of all of this.

Rey looked up and saw a black dot in the sky. It grew larger and took form as though it were a large bird but this was no bird. Rey could feel her, the prickling pain of her presence as though she were imbued with something designed especially to cause Rey agony. She didn’t remember her sister having this kind of presence to her when they were younger. Was it because of Snoke? Had he done something to her?

Rey gently lifted Ben’s head as she shifted his weight from her, laying him down on the mossy ground so he was on his side. With a shaky hand she let his head sink into a little cushion of green and white starry flowers that grew among the moss. She trailed a finger across his scar before she got to her feet and ignited her lightsabre. She stepped over Ben, placing herself between him and the oncoming threat. She told herself this was about protecting Ben, not revenge but she couldn’t help the hurt from sinking into her mind and turning it dark.

Her sister landed on the rocks above her and swept aside her flight gear, revealing the pared down black garb of a Knight of Ren. She kept her mask on, making her seem like a machine. A red lightsabre ignited in Gem’s hand.

“I won’t be taken off guard this time sister. I will kill you and I will take Kylo Ren with me.” Her voice had the harsh timber created by the mask but Rey had expected as much.

Rey said nothing in reply. Instead she began to calculate her position, advantages, disadvantages, her opponents strengths and weaknesses and most important, opening herself to the flow of the force. She fought to calm herself and let the light flow but the dark seemed to worm its way in as she warred against her anger.

Rey watched as Gem strode along the top ridge of the island. With each step she took Rey angled her body in a defensive stance towards her. Her sister showed no sign of the injuries Rey had given her on Dastron.

“I always blamed you for the death of my family but you know it’s freeing to have no family anymore. I am glad they’re all gone now?” Rey felt a spark of anger light the dark tinder within her. Everything that had been ripped from her came to her memory like a searing brand. Rey breathed and tried to remember Luke’s words about accepting the good and bad in life and choosing to respond as a Jedi.

“Not all,” Rey said, taking a step towards Gem. Her sister turned and opened her arms wide in a mocking gesture.

“Oh yes, that’s right. Your mother is still in Skath Holding, or at least that’s what you believe isn’t it. Why don’t you go and have a look.” Gem looked pointedly down at Ben. “Of course you won’t be able to after I kill you and take our Master of Ren with me.”

Rey shut a lid on the shattering hope of rescuing her mother from Skath Holding. Maz had warned her that her family was ahead of her not behind. She had accepted this truth. She took a breath and told herself she cared nothing for her sister’s baiting. Her heart blackened towards the person she’d looked up to as a little girl. Gem had been the enemy from the beginning.

Rey still kept silent, seeking the calm of the light. She began to reach out in the force to the rocks where Gem stood, causing a little avalanche. Gem jumped and found another footing. Rey made sure to keep herself between Ben and Gem but took another step towards her.

Gem tilted her head and laughed. She knew Rey was stalking her and she took up a defensive stance of her own, beginning to circle about. Rey could see it instantly, Gem planned to come about and tempt Rey further away from Ben.

_Do not let her get close to Ben._

Rey showed no sign of having heard her grandfather but she knew his meaning. Gem was here to take Ben, dead or alive. The problem was that, whatever Snoke had done, Ben was almost dead anyway. Rey needed help, not for herself but for Ben. She tried to reach out to Luke.

Pain blurred her mind. Gem laughed.

“You cannot reach him or anyone else sister dear,” she said.

Something clicked for Rey. It was her sister’s presence that caused the prickling pain in her mind every time she tried to reach out in the force along a bond or link. But it wasn’t Gem herself doing it. She had something in her possession that interfered with her bond with Ben or anyone else. Rey would have to find it and disable it.

“You’re not as much fun as you were when you were little Rey. You always had so much to say.” An unkind memory assaulted her, her sister laughing when her father called her a big mouth. Rey felt the pressure inside her grow but this time it grew cold instead of hot.  

“Oh, there it is. The hate I’ve been looking for,” Gem snarled. “Now we can fight.” Her sister came at her, a blinding array of slashes and stabs. Rey found each one and parried it aside, all the while keeping in mind where Ben was and where her sister was aiming to get to. If she had to push her sister back with brute force she would.

She could hear Gem’s breathing behind the mask. Rey wondered if it could be used to give her an advantage. Sure it was protection and likely filled with devices to enhance her senses but just like Ben’s mask it was heavy and limiting in physical ways. It also gave an impression of invulnerability to the wearer that Ben had proved was a fault back on Starkiller. It prompted the wearer to forget certain things.

Gem came at her again and this time Rey kept low and focussed on finding a way into vulnerable places on her lower body. Even tagging a foot could give her an advantage.

Gem’s strikes were quick and skilled and took effort to parry. Rey was tempted to give ground but she refused to let Gem get close to Ben, taking a nick to her arm before pushing her back. For a moment it let the dark in and she struck out in anger. Gem caught the blow aimed at her head and shoved Rey back again.

It took all of Rey’s effort to fight back, pushing them away from Ben again. She had to be careful not to let anger blind her and stick to the game plan.

“You are strong as Master Skywalker said.” Gem’s word’s seemed incongruous to her previous ones.

“You would make a fine Knight of Ren.” Rey felt the subterfuge. She was directing her attention elsewhere. Rey decided it was time to remind Gem of a few things.

“You were in love with Ben but he never felt a thing for you,” Rey said. Gem grew still.

“You know nothing. Do you think he loves you? The only thing he loves is his precious Darth Vader and their great destiny.” Rey knew wasn’t true.

“He will return to the Knights of Ren. I’ve seen this. He will kill Snoke and he will return to those who helped him find his true power. He cares nothing for you. After all, he let Snoke dump you on Jakku. He could have saved you but he chose Snoke.” Rey shook her head. This also wasn’t true. And when it came to truth there was something her sister still didn’t know. Something that gave Rey pause and cooled her anger towards her sister. She took a breath and calmed herself.

“Did you know it was Ben who killed Eli?” Gem’s head snapped back and she stumbled but kept her footing.

“Eli tried to kill me so Ben killed him.” Gem’s lightsabre lowered for a moment. For the first time Rey tried to reach for her sister through the force. Poisonous rage and vengeance was all she found, the weight of it in her sister’s life was like a searing brand, stabbing at her from within.

With a scream Gem surged forward, every part of her determined to push Rey out of the way. She was aiming for Ben. Rey parried and pushed her back. Gem snarled. She raised her free hand and touched something at the base of her neck. A purple light flickered and another memory flashed into Rey’s mind. Her mother, Galena Kenobi, had worn a purple jewel encased in an intricate gold fretwork about her neck. Rey had been mesmerized by it.

Before the memory could even begin to consolidate Rey was assaulted by an intense prickling pain in her head. So much so that her body grew weak and her vision blurred. Rey stumbled, trying to push through the pain. This was the source of the pain. Rey’s mind was reeling. Gem had her mother’s necklace and was using it somehow to attack her mind.

“You’re a liar Rey,” Gem screamed.

Rey reached deep into her connection with the force and let the light flow into her, pulling it to her in much the same way as she had pulled it to Ben. She felt its strength down to the cosmic components of her being. She let it turn her to steel. The pain in her mind was still there but felt as though it were far away, giving her space to think and act.

“It won’t help you,” Rey said. Gem turned her head one way then the other. Rey could sense a desperation sparked by deep pain and hurt. Gem ached for vengeance. She was obsessed by it. Rey could not let her have it.

Gem attacked again. Rey parried and swung down, touching the side of her sister’s thigh. She heard a hiss and she stepped back but then felt savage emotions rise to engulf the pain, similar to the way Ben had used his pain to access the darkness and gain strength. It seemed to Rey it was a false strength that left you weakened in the end.

Gem ignored the injury this time and began to edge around again trying to get close to Ben.

“So you recognize this little jewel at my neck,” Gem said. “Yes. It belonged to your mother. My father gave it to her. It should have been mine when my mother died.” Rey felt the bitterness within her sister, an echo of her own bitterness. Whatever Gem had been through in her life had not served her any better than Rey’s abandonment had done for her, maybe it had been worse.

“Do you know why I have it?” Gem snarled. Rey noticed that her sister had forgotten Ben. Instead Gem’s focus was solely on her. This was something at least.

Her sister pulled the jewel out from the folds of her robes and let it sit in her black clad hand, it’s glow turning mauve in the bright sunlight. Rey remembered that in the dark it was a deep purple.

“Our father gave it to me after he killed her.”

Rey froze. She had been told that her mother had died at the hands of insurgents and that was why they had to leave their home world. She still remembered her father’s tears as he told her. Rey felt something inside her crumple.

“Yes, now you see. Your mother betrayed my father. She turned away from the dark side for Luke Skywalker.” Gem advanced on her. Icy fingers of hatred took hold of Rey’s thoughts as Gem continued to rip her apart with her words.

“Luke Skywalker seduced her away from her family with promises of the light side of the force.”

Rey felt her control slipping away. It wasn’t true. How could her father have killed her mother? But then it explained much. Rey had been so full of grief at losing her mother she hadn’t seen their change in attitude towards her at first but now it was all so obvious. A niggling anger towards Luke also threatened to rise up inside her. He’d never told her this.

“Yes. Luke Skywalker seduced your mother. I wouldn’t be surprised if we weren’t sisters. I wouldn’t be surprised if Luke was your father.”

Rey burned with anger. Her mother would never have…Luke would never have. How could she say this? To malign both her mother and her mentor in such an awful way. It wasn’t true. Gem began to laugh. Rage surged up inside her and she launched towards her sister, bringing her lightsabre about in a powerful arc.

Their sabres clashed but Gem fell back. Rey could only see the source of her torment and stalked towards her. She beat her sister back and found every weak spot she could, the force was raging through her, dark and uncontrolled. She demolished her sister’s defenses without mercy, sending her scurrying back up onto the rocks, hoping to gain an advantage through higher ground. Rey wasn’t silly enough to attack her from this position so instead she used the force to destabilize the ground beneath her sister and bring her back down in a slide of rocks.

Rey struck a heavy blow to Gem’s mask and it cracked. Gem backed away and yanked the thing off, useless now it was damaged. Rey didn’t give her sister time to regain her composure. With fierce intent she swung her sabre at Gem’s neck. Gem raised her sabre in time to save herself but the jewel about her neck fell forward as Rey reached out. She used the force to yank the jewel from Gem’s neck and sent it spinning across the ground.

“No!” her sister screamed and went after it. Rey stabbed Gem in her thigh when she left it unguarded. Gem screamed and stumbled but continued to scramble after the jewel. Rey stalked after her. She would end this now. No more family. No more pain.

_You must destroy the jewel._

Rey paused. It had belonged to her mother. She would kill her sister and take it back.

_It is of the dark side. Destroy it._

Rey sought out its purple light among the rocks. Such a beautiful thing, as her mother had been. Gem’s hand closed around it. Rey surged forward. She would not let Gem have it. Rey lifted her sabre to strike. Gem spun about and held up the purple jewel. A thin bolt of lightning shot from it. Perhaps Gem had meant to use it to force Rey back but instead it collided with the sabre in Rey’s hands. Rey clamped her hands about her sabre but the lightning increased and began to dance up her arms towards her chest. She didn’t want to destroy the purple jewel but if she didn’t…she didn’t know how much longer she could hold out against this. Even though the lightning was nowhere near as powerful as that of Snoke’s she was fighting it on her own. Her arms were burning and her strength was waning.

Rey dragged the force towards her and pushed down with her sabre, closer and closer to the jewel. Everything within her was burning now but she didn’t know if it was the lightning from the jewel or the darkness building within her again. Rey refused to give up, pushing with everything she had. She would not let her sister win.

Rey felt the force building around her, not just within her. It was swirling like a raging serpent as it curled in and downwards through the island. The jewel shattered and Gem screamed. Rey swung her sabre, knocking Gem’s sabre away as she tried to lift it. Her sister fell back against the ground, defeated. Rey could only see her enemy. Darkness and hate was coursing through her like a river. She would not be turned away. Gem held up her hands in a feeble attempt to defend herself as Rey lifted her sabre for the killing blow.


	38. Chapter 38

Ben drifted, his vision blank, his feeling numb, surrounded by silence. Free of everything yet choked by the cloying darkness. He was frozen yet he was spinning, tumbling – or maybe that was just in his head. He was lost. He cried out but could not make a noise of any kind.

A thin reedy breath… not his own.

He spun one way then the other. Where was it? What was happening? The sound remained behind him, above him. Hidden. Menacing.

Darkness engulfed him.

YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD ESCAPE ME KYLO REN.

Pain.

Ben screamed. No sound came from his mouth. He was lost, helpless and weak. Panic crashed through him.

YOU HAVE BETRAYED ME KYLO REN.

More Pain.

Ben clamped down on a laugh. Yes, he had betrayed Snoke and he cared nothing for it. Bitter bile welled up inside him. There were others more worthy of his loyalty whom he’d also betrayed.

YOU BELONG TO ME KYLO REN.

Shattering pain.

He could bear it. He knew how.

Ben felt so much hatred rise within him. He hated Snoke. He hated the name of that long gone sith lord whose name he’d adopted. The part of him that he would never really get rid of. The part that Snoke wanted.

DO YOU REMEMBER THIS KYLO REN

Light flamed, dull and yellow but it may as well have been the most brilliant sun. He cringed at first but when his eyes adjusted shock rattled him and for a moment the site took his breath away.

His grandfather’s melted mask hung before his eyes.

I HAVE WATCHED YOU FROM BIRTH. I HAVE SEEN YOU STRUGGLE. I HAVE SEEN YOUR DEEPEST FEARS AND FELT YOUR LONELINESS. I REACHED OUT TO YOU.

Pain bloomed across his body, each new touch of it was red and angry and malicious.

I was a child and you preyed on me.

His body shuddered and his stomach roiled. He had to get himself under control. He couldn’t lose it here.

I HAVE GRACIOUSLY GIVEN YOU A LIFE AND A PURPOSE FOR THE GREATNESS THAT WE CAN ACHIEVE TOGETHER.

Searing pain flailed his back. The feel of tears burning in his eyes now.

It was a lie. He was Snoke’s particular slave. A broken winged convoree caught in a snare, caged and forced to perform. Forced to do Snoke’s bidding knowing every move he made was a betrayal to himself and everyone he loved.

But he knew Snoke’s power and the weak and broken fool that was Ben Solo could not fight it.

Pain in his gut. He doubled over. He would not reach for the dark side.

AND YOU FLUNG IT ASIDE FOR A GIRL.

And he would again. He reached out for Rey but he could not feel her, no matter how much he tried. It was like the door was locked. He was locked in this place with his tormentor.

Each breath was agony. Crushing agony. The dark side whispered to him. It could save him. He ground his teeth. He’d rather die and end this miserable life.

But where would that leave Rey.

YOU DO NOT NEED HER. YOU ARE ALONE. YOU ARE KYLO REN. YOU ARE THE SCION OF DARTH VADER AND YOU WILL BRING PEACE TO THE GALAXY.

What about peace to Ben Solo?

He looked at the mask. It was the relic of a man who no longer existed. Darth Vader was a dead fantasy. Anakin Skywalker was real. Ben breathed in and out. Odd how the mask meant little to him now that he’d met Anakin Skywalker. Why bother with the mask when he’d met the man who wore it…and no longer needed it.

He could not help his hands that went to his head as pain exploded within his mind. He felt shivers of it across his skin, as though his sweat were made of acid as it ran down his face. His whole body was scoured by its fire, twisting and breaking him.

I HAVE BROUGHT YOU TO WHERE THE DARKSIDE SPRINGS. YOU WERE ALWAYS TETHERED TO ITS SOURCE. YOU CANNOT ESCAPE. IN TIME YOU WILL SEE. THIS RESISTANCE TO YOUR DESTINY WILL BE JUST A MEMORY, A REMINDER OF WHAT YOU WERE BORN FOR.

Ben (or was it Kylo) screamed his defiance. From his earliest memory he had screamed his defiance at the foreign touch.

But touch him Snoke did. The burning, icy feeling of that grasping hand.

Ben thrashed and struggled but he could not keep Snoke out.

CALM YOURSELF MY APPRENTICE.

A touch on the back of his neck and he was paralysed. The pain remained like a siren song to the dark side at the back of his mind. He let it burn and did nothing. He would die soon.

A sob swelled in his throat.

He didn’t understand. He’d won. He’d defeated Snoke. The light of Ahch-To had severed the connection Snoke had forced upon him. Yet here he was, back in the nightmares of his childhood.

WE MUST START AGAIN MY APPRENTICE. YOU WERE BORN FOR ONE THING. I WISHED FOR YOU TO FOLLOW YOUR DESTINY WILLINGLY. I DO THIS FOR YOUR OWN GOOD KYLO REN AND FOR THE GOOD OF THE GALAXY.

Ben heard his uncle’s words that Snoke would come and _force your to return to his side_. There was no use struggling. He could not hope to win.

Rey. Grandfather. _Grandfather, don’t abandon me_.

The violating fingers of power pressed down into his mind, numbing and blinding his feelings and rending his soul. Pain wracked his whole body but worse was the way it left his body weakened and vulnerable to Snoke and the invasion of his being. Snoke sliced open his mind, enfeebled by Snoke’s assault and made ready to plant once again the tether that had been ripped out like a weed.

Ben let go of hope. He was here alone, again, with Snoke. He reviled the feeling of Snoke forcing his way into his mind and planting his roots there once again but there was no way to stop it. The only thing he could hope to do was to cling once again to that little bit of light that was his memory of Rey.

He thought of the vision at the tree, of old Rey there with him. His life had stretched out before, difficult but his own. Rey had been there. Snoke had not. He clung to this vision and the knowledge that Rey had been there, somewhere, somehow, their lives intertwined.

KYLO REN. GIVE UP YOUR USELESS DESIRES. THEY ARE WEAK AND FOOLISH. I HAVE GIVEN YOU BETTER THINGS.

Visions of power, prestige, honour, camaraderie of the knights, adulation of the people for the peace he’d brought flowed through his mind. They had soothed his fears in the past; given him something to cling to that helped him forget that Snoke was always there inside his mind – taking. The beings of the galaxy were weak and foolish. They needed Kylo Ren to bring order to their lives. It was all so simple.

It was a lie.

Snoke was using him for his power.

Ben Solo was dying…again, but not of his own will this time. Ben withdrew from what was happening to his body and mind. He was dead but he wasn’t. He was trapped in death but he was not dead. He walked as one dead, a deathwalker. For him death would be forever darkness and forever would it be his path, sinking, dying yet never knowing the sleep of true death. That’s what happened to those who committed to the dark side. They walked its path forever and it was a very long, lonely path.

(He didn’t know how he knew this. Had he seen inside Snoke’s mind just a little? In his haste, Snoke had not been meticulous enough to guard his own mind – as Ben had done once with Rey. Ben focussed.)

Snoke knew this and fought against his fate. Ben realised something important. Without him and the power Snoke took from him, Snoke would no longer be able to avoid this fate. Forever would he be lost in the dark and never sleep. Snoke wanted the life of the light but would not let go the dark to gain it for himself. And so he took that life from Ben and forced Ben to walk the path of death Snoke should walk for himself. He would not let Ben Solo come back.

Ben held to the dream. He could only remember a little of the life he could once have hoped for. There had been a better life out there, a hard life but a good life, with Rey in it. He reached for it before the last of Ben Solo slipped beneath the surface, never to return. He would not let go the vision of the tree, of Rey, of being old together. He would not let go of this light. He reached deep down within him and found that light and clung to it with the very last of his strength.

Snoke roared.

I WILL TOLERATE THIS DEFIANCE NO LONGER KYLO REN.

Ben remembered his father’s words. When he gets what he wants he’ll crush you. Ben also knew if Snoke didn’t get what he wanted Snoke would crush him as well.

YOU WILL RETURN TO ME KYLO REN OR YOU WILL BE DESTROYED

So be it. Ben reached for the light, for his family, for Rey, for his true self. To this he would cling regardless of what Snoke did.

He wasn’t afraid anymore. He would rather die than live the life of death he’d lived before.

He felt the hand of darkness, ancient, bones of steel and blood of stone, circle him.

Light. He felt it. In this dark place of ending it was like a shadow but to make a shadow there had to be light.

There was a laugh. Deep and sardonic. It reverberated through the world about him.

It caught them both off guard.

_It is you who will be destroyed?_

The pain, the dark, his final fate. The illusion shattered. He stood in a dusty, dank and crumbling room of strange and ancient origin. He spun and found the figure of Snoke sitting on his throne. The hair all over Ben’s body stood on end.

WHO ARE YOU?

Did Snoke sound surprised. Ben spun again but could not find the origin of that other voice.

_O come now Supreme Leader. Don’t you recognise me?_

VADER.

_No. No, Vader is dead. I’m Anakin Skywalker. You know this._

THERE IS NO ANAKIN SKYWALKER.

_So certain are you._

A snicker like his grandfather was enjoying a private joke.

It was like a pressure valve opening. The power of Snoke’s presence that had forced its way into his mind and soul, crippling him and preparing to implant itself within him, weakened. Ben reached for the light again, fighting to stay on the surface. Like stars that rise, the force rose up about him.

Snoke howled with fury.

YOU CANNOT BE HERE.

_And yet here I am._

Grandfather.

The light grew and illuminated a smiling face, the one that looked like his uncle and his mother.

YOU. YOU DARE SHOW YOUR FACE TO ME.

_You dare take my grandson from me._

The light grew more and more.

_It’s time to come home son._ Ben turned to the beloved figure of his father.

NO. HE’S MINE.

_No. He’s mine. I died for him. He belongs to me._

A scream so deranged and dark came from Snoke that Ben could only recoil with horror.

Thunder gripped the air and everything about them shook.

Snoke grew still, looking about. For the first time ever Ben saw fear in Snoke’s eyes.

_Aah. My son. He seems to be knocking at your door Snoke. Oh, and what do you know, my daughter is with him._

Ben felt his mouth drop open. What did his grandfather mean by that? Were Luke and his mother doing something?

A sound like a crack.

_Time to go_ , his father said.

_Before you go Ben, there’s something you need._

His grandfather reached out into the darkness and plucked something from its depths. Whatever it was now shone like a star through his fingers. He extended his hand to Ben. A snarl from Snoke was ignored. The bright object was placed in Ben’s hand and his fingers curled about it of their own accord. He stared at it for a moment, wondering what it was for before he looked up at his grandfather.

His grandfather stepped closer to Ben and looked him in the eyes.

_I give you a choice Ben. Stay here and have your revenge to its fullest degree or return to help those you love._

Ben felt a surge of bitter hatred rise within him. It was an inferno in his heart. He gripped the star in his hand and the light faded a little. For everything Snoke had done to him, taken from him. Vengeance. Dark and complete.

YOU CAN MAKE NO SUCH PROMISE.

There was a cracking sound, like lightning and thunder together.

_It is the balance of the force that allows me._

Balance. Ben felt a tremor within him. The light grew weaker as he contemplated the opportunity for vengeance. It hit him. His grandfather had offered him either vengeance or those he loved. He could not have both.

He felt the presence of his father behind him. He could not lose any more of those he loved. He would not choose to be without them now.

The shaking grew more violent as the cracking grew louder.

_You must make your decision_ now _Ben._

Ben looked at Snoke. He had to let vengeance go. He had to let everything Snoke promised go. He had to let it all go.

_The balance is shifting Ben. Make your decision._

“Rey.”

His grandfather smiled. Snoke roared. His father’s arm’s circled him and pulled him away as lightning shot across the space between him and Snoke.

Ben opened his eyes. He was in the open air again. Something tickled his face. He blinked and lifted his head just a little. His face was in a cushion of soft green leaves and white flowers. He looked up as the smiling face of his father faded.

_You’re home Ben_.

He reached for his father before he disappeared and a stone fell from his hand. He picked it up and looked at it. It was just a brown stone but it held light. Great light.

A dark surge in the force pulsed nearby. He looked about.

His heart stopped. No.

 

 

Rey looked into her sister’s frightened eyes as she brought her sabre down. She saw the fear and pleading but it didn’t touch her. All she could think of was bringing that lightsabre down on the one who’d caused her so much pain.

White hot brilliance exploded about her. She’d taken no notice of the force building around her. The light shot up past them, whiting out vision, hearing and feeling. A spider web of tiny bolts of the force fed into it from across the island and the nearby islands. The main shaft came from lower down towards the temple this time – where Luke and Leia and the others were. It shot skywards like a lightning bolt. Not like before. This time it expanded out as though it was a myriad of fingers reaching for something. The lightning crackled about it as though the atmosphere had opened up and she could see straight through into open space. It was as though a cloak had been pulled away to reveal something vast, dark and spectral that sucked at the force like a wound. A sphere that seemed improbably dark, impregnable, unnatural. She could feel it through the force. Snoke was inside that sphere and there was no way in or out except by the force.

Rey was knocked backwards by the power of more force lightning shooting for the sky and dazed by the sight above her. She nearly missed her sister’s move. A black dagger, aimed for her heart. She dodged and it flew past. There was a thunk and a gasp behind her. Rey felt a white hot pain between her ribs. She turned to find Ben standing, looking down at the dagger protruding from his torso.

Rey stared in shock, the pain in her chest clamped down on her breathing and she swayed. How?

A snicker from Gem turned into a cackle.

“Looks like I’ll be taking him back with me dead.” Rey turned to her sister ready to finish what she’d started. The force flowed so easy in her anger. Gem stood and reignited her sabre but there was fear in her eyes.

A searing pain in Rey’s chest burned past her grip on the force. Her steps faltered as dizziness assaulted her. Ben had pulled out the dagger. She heard it clatter to the ground. _Ben you idiot._ You should have waited.

“Rey.” Ben’s voice gave her pause. There was a crackling sound to it like blood was spattering in the moving air within his chest.

She glared at Gem. The sister whom she’d loved but who’d hurt her so much. The darkness pulsed in her, thirsting for vengeance.

“Let her go. She’s not the enemy,” Ben said. His voice was shaky and had a disconcerting bubbling sound to it.

Gem turned to Ben and snarled. “I don’t need you’re pity.” Rey felt a surge of hate and moved towards her sister again. Gem held up her lightsabre but stepped back, uncertain.

“Rey.” Ben’s voice was thin and wavery, breathless. Rey glanced at Ben and stumbled. Pale and grey looking, she didn’t know how he was still standing. But then she’d seen him take a shot from Chewie’s bowcaster and get up again. This was different though. Something was missing. He seemed far more vulnerable than she remembered. She heard the scrape of Gem’s shoe as she moved away. Rey could feel her sister’s hate war with her desire to flee. Rey tensed, she couldn’t let her sister go. But what about Ben? What was she doing? She should be helping him.

YOU’LL NEVER GET ANOTHER CHANCE TO KILL HER.

She heard Chewie roar from further down the path. Someone had finally seen what was happening up on the top of the island.

Gem saw the Wookie too and started to edge back towards the rocks and an escape route. The desire to flee had won out. The anger and darkness within Rey urged her to chase down her sister and end her while she had the chance. But the static in that plan was the pain in her chest. Ben’s pain. Ben was suppressing it but the damage was critical. Their bond was weakening. If she didn’t help Ben she would lose him. He needed her to use the force to help him. Even if Chewie rushed him in his arms down to the temple to Luke and the others, he was bleeding out fast. He wouldn’t make it. She had a choice.

Rey knew she might never see her sister again if she escaped now. If she did, Gem might actually kill her next time. There were so many negatives to letting her go but there was one big negative to chasing her that Rey could not ignore.

Rey stepped back towards Ben. Chewie was sprinting fast now. Gem’s look told Rey she didn’t want to meet them both.

“We’ll meet again sister.”

Gem turned and disappeared behind the rocks. Rey stopped herself from following. Ben needed her. She turned and caught him as his knees crumpled beneath him. She blocked out the phantom pain she felt that belonged to Ben. She held his weight with the force. He looked into her eyes and Rey felt him reaching for her across the bond and for the light. The darkness within her retreated as she realised how close Ben was to dying. It was the damage to his heart. The muscle was stuttering, its beat stopping and starting. Blood was seeping from the wound, too fast.

Ben’s eyes slid closed then he forced them open. A cold panic gripped Rey as she felt their bond blink in and out. She couldn’t lose him. She’d lost too much, too many. To be without him, irrational though it might be, would be worse than dying.

Chewie was there now, reaching for Ben, holding him with gentle hands. Rey looked up at the Wookie. As always he held to his own code. Ben was now under his protection because Luke and Leia had accepted him back. No more questions asked. Together they lowered him to the ground. Chewie’s yowl of concern was an understatement. Ben tried to say something but no sound came out of his mouth.

“He’ll die if I don’t help him now,” Rey said. Chewie enquired if he should take him to Luke.

“No. It’ll be too late,” Rey said. She had no idea if this was going to work but she had to try. She always had to try. Her mind began to shut out everything around her and she focussed on Ben and the damage from the dagger. Rey was shaking but inside she grew calm. She put a hand on his chest where the wound was and her other hand cupped the side of his face. He turned into the palm of her hand. Rey began to pull the light to her. It came in such a rush she almost choked on it. She bowed over him as she focussed on guiding the light into Ben. She heard an uncertain huff from Chewie as the air about them shivered. The force seemed to take over and work through her. Tendrils of power sparked about them, tiny stars of light rose up, passing over her and the Wookie and flocked to the dagger wound in Ben’s chest.

Fear and shock swept across Rey’s mind like a foreign touch. It came from Gem. Wherever she’d gone she was watching. Rey re-focussed on letting the light come and do what it willed. Rey had no more control. Just like when she had faced down Snoke she was just a conduit, a lens to focus the power gathering about them. It was all she could do to hold herself together. In any other place, this would not be possible but the force was so strong so near the temple. It had overwhelmed her the first time she was here but now its power left her in awe and wonder.

Something tenuous formed. It gained strength. Rey’s heart rate slowed as Ben’s settled and found a rhythm. She felt the beat of their two hearts come together and beat as one. She felt Ben breathe, shallow but steady. She bowed her head over his chest and just let herself feel his life linked to hers. The smell of blood, metallic and sharp was in her nose, rising up from his robe and her hand where she held it over his wound. She wasn’t sure how long she stayed this way but she refused to let go until she felt Ben’s strength begin to return. His hand moved towards hers and she caught it. Blood, still wet and sticky smeared across both their hands. She bent and kissed the back of his knuckles. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth and his eyes shone. She kissed the little smile on his lips and for a moment they just stayed close pressing little kisses on each ones lips and looking into each one’s eyes.

Chewie huffed and Rey lifted her head just a little. Ben spoke, his voice thin and raspy.

“Luke. We have to help Uncle Luke.” Rey straightened and looked down into his face. His dark eyes implored her, making her fall in love with him all over again. He was lying there, covered in his own blood and…

“You’re nearly dead and you want to help Luke.”

“Snoke. We have to help him kill Snoke.” Rey looked into his eyes and into his mind. She wasn’t quite sure what she was seeing but they had a chance.

Another bolt of lightning shot skyward sending the air into a frenzy of charged particles, sparking with each other. They looked up as it crackled over the spectral sphere above.

“It won’t be enough to destroy it. He needs our help.”

Chewie muttered his suggestions and Rey had to agree. Ben groaned, shaking his head.

“Oh shush. You don’t have the strength to walk yet.” Ben muttered something about unworthiness, which was duly ignored, as Chewie’s arms gently lifted him up. Rey smiled at the sight of him looking like he was wrapped in a shag pile, his eyes wide and his mouth ajar in surprise. Together they made their way down to the temple.

Rey looked back. Her sister was still there among the rocks, hiding from view, but there was a different feeling from her now. Rey reached out briefly and found the prickling pain was gone. Her sister recoiled as Rey touched her mind. Rey could still feel the darkness within her but it was different now. Something had changed. There was still one problem though. Her sister’s desire for revenge remained.

“Be careful, she’ll try and steal one of the ships if she can.” Chewie muttered something about the Falcon not going anywhere till he’d fixed something and that 3PO could be counted on to keep the General’s shuttle locked. Rey wasn’t sure about that though and made a mental note to force lock it.

 

Finn had felt a strange shivering as he walked into the temple for the first time. It was old and full of shadows. He could see the areas of repair but there were still many more places where it was crumbling with age. In spite of the temple’s dying exterior Finn could feel the power of light and life that could not be suppressed by the darkness waiting above. There were so many thoughts crowding his mind. Who am I? What am I doing here? What did _he_ mean about the dark side in his future? There were so many things he didn’t understand and he had a million questions.

The General and Skywalker were lost in their force bond. Something was happening. It was important so he stayed quiet. Each time the light from the ceiling of the temple pulsed he only just managed to keep himself from jumping and clamp down on the cry that was bursting from his throat.

He turned as Rey and Chewbacca jogged into the temple. He stared at the sight of his nemesis in the Wookie’s arms. Kylo Ren, whatever else his name was he didn’t care, struggled to stand. There was blood all over his robes. Sanjo and his father rushed in behind Rey and Kylo.

“Ben,” the General cried out.

“It’s alright. I’m okay now.”

The General didn’t look convinced. Finn had to admit, seeing _him_ standing there with that much blood on him was…disconcerting.

“Ben. We need you,” Master Skywalker said.

“You need this.” Kylo Ren held out a stone to his mother. Finn thought it odd that he would give his mother a stone but then there was something about it… The General frowned as she looked at it. Skywalker approached.

“Where did you get this?”

“I’ll explain later.”

Skywalker took the stone and returned to the light that fell from the temple ceiling. The stone flew from the Jedi’s hand and hovered within the shaft of light.

“This is what we’ve been looking for.”

“It’s not complete yet,” the General said as she gazed at the light.

Finn felt the warmth of the stone in his pocket and reached in to take it in his hand. Clarity came to him in that moment. He saw a time when the temple was new and shone in the glory of the force. He saw the stones as they hovered in the light. There were three stones. Each one was full of the force in its own way but together they were something greater.

Finn extended the stone he held towards the light. It flew of its own accord towards the light. It was joined by another stone that rose up out of the floor.

It was like something conscious was born. Light twisted up and down from the spinning stones. It was like a tornado of stars and bolts of lightning. A grating sound and the ceiling of the temple folded back, exposing their view to a dark sphere that hovered above the planet. Finn’s mouth dropped open as he watched. He’d seen a shadowy image in a holovid in his youth once. Snoke was in that thing.

“We need to pull back the fleet,” the General said. She turned to him. Finn knew what she was going to say.

“You have command status Finn. I need to stay here with Luke and Ben. Please.”

Finn nodded. Yes, he was the logical choice. He turned to go.

“Finn.” He stopped as the General called his name again. “Not just the Resistance fleet.” Finn stared at her. Was she telling him to use his First Order contacts and warn them too?

“There are many innocent people after today who will be ready to change sides Finn. We have to give them the chance.” Finn swallowed. He thought of Phasma and the Stormtroopers with her. The General was right. They were just the beginning. He’d started something when he left. He thought of the people he’d left behind. Back then all he’d wanted to do was run from what were essentially his captors. Now….there would be others like him. He nodded and rushed from the temple. The General’s shuttle would be the best choice. Its signature would give his message added authority. He spotted the ship parked on the edge of the island and ran. There was no time to waste.

Finn didn’t see the figure that tracked his progress.

 

 

The moment Kylo Ren had turned his back on him for the last time, Snoke knew he had to change his plans. This had been a long play though. It was going to take time to start again. First he was going to have to destroy everything and start with a clean slate.

He breathed in a shaky breathe. Now that the boy was gone so was his power source. He snarled. He would find another.

His capsule had withstood the lightning from the temple as he knew it would. Now he began to make the adjustments required to fully destroy the Jedi temple and those inside. He ground his teeth. He only had one shot though. Without the Rellian ships it was going to take time to draw the power he needed to wipe out everything below. His First Order would wipe out the Resistance and he would remove the Skywalkers and then…

There was a shimmer of the force. The darkness was still not as dark as it should be.

The intruder had not left. Snoke refused to acknowledge him.

The intruder did not give him the same courtesy.

“Oh. Look at that. They have the stones all together now. The next force bolt from that temple is going to rip apart this cell you’ve built yourself Snoke.”

Snoke sneered at the apparition that refused to leave his sacred domain.

“You think you can win.”

Snoke thought of the old relic that only he knew the workings of now that would enable his chrysalis to survive anything.

The force ghost smiled as Snoke rifled through the objects that he’d kept for an aeon within his chamber of power. The shimmering figure held out its hand as something sprang into it. Snoke stiffened.

“I think this is what you’re looking for.”

The force ghost held up a white stone engraved with intricate patterns.

Snoke snorted. “You know nothing.” That wasn’t what he wanted.

“If you say so.”

Snoke ignored the annoying force ghost and kept searching. He would not let these insignificant life forms take his destiny from him.

He had millennia of millennia to live yet and he would not be denied his place in the eternal path of the force. He found the black cube he’d been looking for and smiled.

“That won’t protect you,” the force ghost said.

“Be quiet,” Snoke snapped. “You think you know something about the balance of the force. I’ll show you the balance of the force.”

“You may try but I think you will fail. You may have lived in the power of the dark for an age yet I still have some years on you on living in the force.”

“You speak of what you do not know.”

“So you say, but then you always were blind to the power in the balance of the force.”

Snoke ignored the annoying presence and held up the black cube and spoke the words of ancient origin that only he knew. He closed his eyes and waited.

“Oops. I don’t think you meant that to happen, did you?”

Snoke gasped. The power he thought would come was silent, mocking and – absent.

“You really should have used this one,” the force ghost said. The stone in the ghost’s hand glowed with dark brilliance but the dark light of the force it held seeped into the apparition instead and was gone.

“NOOOO.”

“Oh yes. Your power is gone Snoke and the force is here to restore the balance.”

Thunder roared about him, everything shattered as lightning burrowed into everything and ripped it apart. The shattered chrysalis rushed away from him. He was in open space, gripped by its airless, frozen night. He felt his body freeze within as his breath was ripped from him with unmerciful brutality. Panic rose up to cloud his mind. He’d kept pace ahead of the shadow of death. It could not catch him now. He had so many plans. There was still so much to do. He would find the secrets he yearned for without paying the price. He would. With his will alone he pulled on the force and kept the last vestige of his life together.

The force ghost was speaking. Snoke tried to shut out its words as he struggled to live but couldn’t.

“You have to understand that the balance is what creates the light. It’s not possible to remain in the dark and be in the light as well.” With a sigh “that’s why Ben was so torn apart. No-one is meant to walk between the two.” Now a smug grin “except me of course. But then I’m not quite like anyone else, am I. It must have burned you to know you emerged just those few years too late.”

Surely there was something he could still do to stop this. He needed to think.

 “Such a disappointment that I died and entered the force before you woke. But then Palpatine tricked me into the darkside didn’t he. I never truly chose it for myself. I made my choice because I loved another – not you. And love – well that comes from the light.”

Why wouldn’t it be quiet?

Snoke fought. The force failed him. He reached for the dark power but it escaped him. He was no longer able to ignore the true will of the force. He felt the approaching abyss and cursed in that ancient tongue only he knew. He refused to accept his passing into that forever dark void of his death. But his power was gone as was Kylo Ren. Why had he been so cruel?

He tried to claw his way back as he sank beneath the last vestige of life but his efforts availed him nothing. With a bitter rage he could do nothing more than glare at the smiling face of Anakin Skywalker.

And then…Snoke was no more.


	39. Chapter 39

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...even though I've tried to bring this story to a close twice now it's like a horse that got the bit in it's teeth and bolted. Whoever it was who said they wanted this story to go forever just might get their wish. I now hope to at least finish before 'The Last Jedi' comes out.

Rey had closed her eyes when the rush and the brilliance of the force arc had been too much but she’d felt what happened. The flow of the force had been breathtaking. She could feel the gathering of minds, alive and in the force. She’d felt the strike into the beyond and then the shattering of darkness above. The silencing of the blackest, screaming rage. A strange receding of power back into the temple even as it slipped past them and back down into the planet itself.

Everything felt different. The oppressive feel of darkness that had descended as Snoke’s chrysalis emerged above was gone, leaving the flow of life in its wake. It was as though everything stood taller just for the knowledge it was no longer being bent and twisted against its will. She chanced a look up at the sky only to find the ceiling of the temple in its original condition as though nothing had happened. The little shaft of light a gentle reminder of what had been there only moments before.

“Is he gone?”

A heart beat and another. A shaky whisper from Ben.

“Yes.”

No one said anything for a while. Could the nightmare be over? It felt like it was. A feeling niggled at Rey beneath her ribs. She pushed at it and it disappeared like smoke. Was it her sister? Had she felt Snoke die? Ben must have felt him die.

Rey turned to Ben and wrapped her arms around him. His warmth was a reassurance that they had won. Ben was alive and Snoke was gone. It took Rey a moment to realise that Leia was quietly weeping on her brother’s shoulder while he held her, his eyes closed.

Perhaps they should have celebrated their freedom. Instead they were quiet, feeling the losses they’d sustained to get to this point. Or maybe they just didn’t trust the possibilities that lay ahead.

Ben shuddered and Rey tightened her arms about him. She felt him reach for her across the bond. No words, just wanting the bliss of connecting to each other.

A whir followed by a rapid succession of beeps and whistles broke the moment. A frantic R2D2 barrelled into the temple. Rey didn’t quite get what the little droid was saying at first because she was lost in the bond with Ben. When she did focus on the droid her heart stopped.  

“She’s kidnapped Finn and 3PO.”

Rey let go of Ben and ran.

“Wait,” Ben said. Her steps faltered. She could have sworn he just used compulsion on her. She turned a sharp look on him. Ben looked down, a red hue staining his cheeks. She felt him release her but the expression on his face was earnest.

“Rey, think. Focus on where she’s going. Besides there’s still a battle going on up there. Better if Chewie sends a message from the Falcon to see if she can be stopped,” Ben said. He took a step towards her as though she would bolt at any second and he didn’t want to frighten her. Rey let out a breath that was half sob and her gaze fell away from his. Running after her sister through the middle of a battle was only going to cause trouble. Chewie gruffed his assent to Ben’s suggestion and headed off to the Falcon.

Ben reached out to her through the force. He wanted her to stay with him. It was hard to resist the hold he had on her heart and he seemed vulnerable right now. The pleading in his voice when he spoke washed away any further resistance.

“If they’re gone we can find them together. Besides, my mother’s shuttle won’t be too hard to track,” Ben said. When he mentioned his mother a memory surfaced and crashed through her mind like a tsunami. Without thinking she let go of Ben’s touch through the force. She was too focused on the possibility that loomed in her mind and longing that rose up in her heart to see the bereft expression on Ben’s face.

“My mother. It’s possible she might be in Skath Holding.” She heard Luke’s sharp intake of breath behind her. She turned and realised he still stood in the same place, his eyes closed. Perhaps he was trying to feel something in the force. Leia had stepped away from her brother and approached Rey.

“I thought she died a long time ago.”

“So did I but Imri said she was..might be in Skath Holding. I met Imri on Jakku once when I was younger and she said she remembered me because my mother was in Skath Holding as well. Imri said there was a special cell in the depths of Skath Holding.”

“Is it possible?” Ben said. Rey shook her head. Urgency surged within her. She could feel Gem and Finn getting further away. She needed to go after them.

“I don’t know but I need to find out. We need to go to Skath Holding.” Rey knew for certainty where Gem would be going. “We need to stop Gem before she gets there. I know she got the information about her cell number from Hux’ back on Tyrad.”

“Hux,” Ben said, a scowl forming on his forehead. He chewed his lip but didn’t say anything. She could feel he was mulling something over. Rey was too agitated to enquire though. Leia spoke instead.

“We have contacts there still. We can get a message through. If we miss them here we’ll get them there,” Leia said. “If your mother is there she won’t get to her.” Rey should have been relieved but the insistence to go only increased and it had nothing to do with Gem or Finn. If there was any chance her mother was still alive…

“I cannot go with you,” Leia said. It was like she was giving permission to go at the same time as disincluding herself. She would, as always, hold the fort with the Resistance while they went running off to whatever action was called for.

Rey felt a dark surge from Ben as his body stiffened. “Why not?” Rey clamped down on a sound of impatience that threatened to escape her mouth.

Leia sighed and her face pinched with sadness. “Ben I’m going to be honest. I love you and I want you by my side, always, but I want to be up there when…” she waved a hand towards the sky… “I can feel the First Order crumbling. This is a clear victory for what’s good in this galaxy. I don’t want it screwed up by people like Thorceline.”

Ben looked down. His lips pressed together. Rey felt a surge of disappointment from him. He didn’t want to be apart from her and in a short time they would be gone in different directions not knowing when they would meet again. Rey felt a litany of promises and heartbreaks well up inside him. With tears in her eyes, Leia rushed to Ben. Rey stepped back as a mother wrapped her arms around her son.

“I’m proud of you. If it wasn’t for you Snoke would still be…” Her words were cut off by a sob. Ben held her tight and her voice muffled against his chest through. “You came home.”

Rey looked on as mother and son connected in a way they both needed but had had little chance to do, even now.

“I will always look for you,” Leia said and Ben hugged her tight.

A feeling of loss squeezed at Rey’s heart. She longed for the same thing from her mother. Gem’s words came back to her. Was it her mother or Gem’s in Skath Holding. Had Gem lied to crush Rey’s hopes? Rey decided she would rather believe Imri. She wanted to go. Finn was in danger, she could feel it. There was something else but she knew Skath Holding was where they needed to go. Urgency nagged at her. She tried to calm herself and think things through but time seemed to tick by too slowly.

“I also will not be going.” It was Mikalas. Sanjo turned to his father.

“What do you mean?”

“I have to go back to Dastron.”

“But…”

“I won’t leave Zhark to his own devices again and…Solia.” Mikalas expression grew pained. “She deserves the people’s memorial. I will make the preparations.”

“Then I’ll come with you,” Sanjo said, his voice catching. Mikalas shook his head.

“No you’re a Padawan now. You must stay here and learn about the force. This is what Solia wanted for you. You must honour this.”

Rey felt a sharp pain of loss again. She had known Solia for such a short time but she wouldn’t forget her. It still burned that she could not save her on Tyrad. She closed her eyes as she remembered her last moment – her eyes begging her to save her brother and her father. She could still feel the barrier of his anger between her and Sanjo but she was determined to keep that one last unspoken promise.

Sanjo bowed his head as he breathed in and out a shaky breath. He opened his mouth to speak but closed it again and nodded. Mikalas wrapped his son in a tight hug. When they parted Ben stepped forward and put a hand on Sanjo’s shoulder but he addressed Mikalas.

 “Send us a message when her memorial is. We will attend.” Rey looked up at Ben. His face was solemn and held a kindness that she marvelled at. Was this a new Ben, or maybe the old one reasserting himself? Rey knew he would not break this promise lightly.

Still, Rey itched to move. She could feel the urgency like a thorn in her flesh. Finn needed them. She didn’t trust Gem not to hurt him. He was force sensitive. Was this the dark path Ben spoke about? Would Gem turn him? She noticed that pressure she had come to dread begin to build and tried to calm herself, unconsciously using one of Luke’s meditation routines.

Rey realised Luke had not moved nor said anything since Snoke’s destruction. She turned to him. She felt nothing, as though he’d put up a wall of some kind that wasn’t easy to detect. With everything that had just happened he was strangely silent and still.

“Luke,” she whispered. He started and looked up. Rey froze. His eyes were an amber shade of hell she’d never seen before. The hair stood up on the back of her neck. Her heart in her mouth she reached out to him through the force and was repelled by the darkness within him. He closed his eyes and bowed his head again. She felt the darkness recede but it didn’t really go away. In its place she felt a weakness she had not felt in him before.

“Luke,” she said. He shook his head before he looked at her again. This time the icy blue was back and relief flooded her.

“What was that?”

He smiled. “We will talk of it later. For now, I believe Finn and your mother are our first concern.” He took a step towards her but stopped, uncertainty in his eyes and stance. Rey felt that odd sensation under her ribs again. Luke spoke hurriedly and in low tones.

“Go with Ben and Sanjo. Finn needs you. And if there is any chance that your mother is still alive…” His shoulders sank. “I must stay here.”

“Luke no. We need you,” Rey said. He looked her in the eye, his voice a whisper.

“You cannot trust me.” His eyes grew strange again.

“What’s wrong?”

He shook his head. She reached out to him again and this time there was a flickering between the darkness and the weakness.

“Something is wrong. I can’t leave you here.”

Rey felt Ben at her side. He’d felt his uncle’s turmoil through her. Luke was blocking whatever was going on from everyone.

“Uncle Luke.”

Luke closed his eyes and took a breath then opened them and looked at Ben with red ringed yellow irises. The sight sent a shock of horror through Rey and all the hair across her body rose on end. This couldn’t be right.

“No.” Ben shuddered. “Uncle Luke, what did you do?”

Rey’s mind was spinning. What was going on? Leia approached her brother, their eyes locked.

“Let it go,” she whispered.

“I had to let the darkness come to me. I couldn’t let it get a hold of Ben or Rey again.”

Rey was distraught. She didn’t understand. _Grandfather what’s happening? What do I do?_

Rey felt helpless. What if she were to pull the light to Luke as she had done for Ben on Dastron?

_Rey, you must not. Leave him be. You cannot help him._

Rey clenched her fists but acquiesced. Surely her grandfather would know. Still she needed to know what was going on. She took Ben’s hand and his grip was firm and surprising, as though he suddenly realised how much he needed her. 

“What’s wrong,” she said. Ben breathed in and out. A shudder came across the bond that left her cold.

“Snoke left behind a very powerful signature in the dark side of the force. Its power has attached itself to Uncle Luke.” Ben paused. Rey felt anger rising up inside him. “He let it attach itself to him to protect us.”

“What! How? Wouldn’t his power just go back to the force?”

“Most of it did but not all. Snoke had many ancient relics which he used to keep himself alive. The power of the dark side may not have fully dissipated because of these.”

Leia continued to stare at her brother. Sweat broke out on both of their faces. That feeling under Rey’s ribs grew stronger, tighter. She could feel the pressure building up inside her chest again. Her back and neck muscles tensed and twisted while a dull ache pulsed in her head. She closed her eyes and breathed. Something within her reacted to a strong presence of the dark side. She had to figure out a way to control it. Or use it. Or something. She could feel it pulse even as the darkness pulsed within Luke.  

_Rey. Seek the calm of the force._ Her grandfather’s voice seemed far away but she did her best to listen and start again with the breathing technique Luke had taught her.

_Your ocean and your island. Remember this is where you are. Rey let your fears go._

Rey tried but a cry from Ben pulled her back out of the mini-mental state she’d started to create.

“Grandfather. Why?”

Rey’s eyes popped open. A shimmer. A figure took ethereal shape behind Luke. A force ghost. The force ghost spoke to Luke.

“I cannot take the darkness from you if you don’t let me.”

Luke shook his head.

“He took everything from me.”

“Only what the balance of the force allowed. More than you lost will be returned to you son.”

Luke was silent. Leia stepped back, her mouth open in shock as she stared at Luke.

“You want to kill Ben.”

“No.”

Ben stepped forward, letting go Rey’s hand as he focussed on Luke. Leia stepped in front of him.

“Uncle Luke. Please. I will always regret…” His words died when Luke looked at him with a stare so volcanic Rey felt Ben physically quail before his uncle. Fear and horror struck him. He’d seen that look before – from Snoke.

Luke closed his eyes and bowed his head, his shoulders hunching. “I have grown weak. Bitterness has poisoned my life. My compassion is gone.” He shook his head and hissed. “My path is darkened. I don’t know how to return to the light.”

“You have to be willing to die for it,” the ghost said. Luke turned to his father’s image.

“Is that the way it was for you?”

“Yes.”

“I would rather die than have this darkness in me,” Luke said. The ghost smiled.

“A good thing you don’t have to die for it then.”

Luke gasped and turned to face the image of his father. “What.”

Before he could resist the ghost buried a hand in Luke’s chest. For a moment the ghost looked darkened, taller, the face obscured by a fearsome mask. It was a dark spectre that Rey had only seen once in an old holovid about the Empire but the image was hard to forget. Luke shuddered and gasped and stumbled. Leia and Ben leapt forward to catch him before he fell. He seemed so weak as he let go the darkness. The menacing spectral outline of the ghost resolved back into its original form of a man and let Luke go.

Rey felt the pressure inside grow again. She wanted to help.

_Rey. No._

She tried to obey her grandfather. She really did but Luke seemed so weakened she was afraid she’d lose him. He needed the strength of the light. Without thinking she reached out to Luke and pulled the force to him through her. Luke was like a sponge, soaking it up. She felt power flow through her. Luke was more like a father to her than her own father or even Han had been. The thought of losing him…she couldn’t bear it.

Stars like those that had gathered to heal Ben rose up about Luke. It was beautiful to see the way he changed as they suffused his whole body.

The gaze of the force ghost fell on Rey like a physical weight. Her heart stuttered at the ferocity of it. For a moment searching eyes narrowed as though they saw something in her but then the ghost disappeared. Rey let out a breath she realised had been stuck in her throat.

The cloud of stars about Luke faded but Luke now looked strong. His eyes were sharp and wise and icy blue as she remembered them. Relief filled her.

Luke looked at Ben.

“I forgave you a long time ago.” He stepped forward and placed a hand on Ben’s shoulder. Ben wasn’t happy with that though and instead grabbed his uncle in a bear hug.

Rey felt the pressure inside her was still there but somehow she could bear it. Her body relaxed. She was strong. Letting the force flow through her like that had strengthened her as well as Luke. She looked at Ben. There was so much strength between them. They could do anything.  

They could hunt down her sister and take Finn back. Rey would take her revenge and she would not be stopped. She would not rush. She would bide her time. Palpatines were good at biding their time and she was one of them too.

“I guess you better get cleaned up before we go,” Luke said. Ben raised an eyebrow. Luke pointed to the blood on his robes. Ben’s mouth formed a soft O. Leia spoke before Ben could reply.

“So, I am sending a Jedi, a Jedi master, two padawans…” she paused and looked in the direction Chewie had gone… “and no doubt a Wookie to find a Knight of Ren who has kidnapped one of my recruits and my droid. Not to mention the possibility of also finding….” She looked at Rey here. “Someone we all hope is still with us.”

There was a beep from R2D2.

“Correction, two Jedi, two padawans, a Wookie and an astromech droid,” Leia said. They all knew it was overkill but it seemed like the thing to do.

Rey frowned. It would be difficult to carry out her plans with this many people but she would find a way. She would finish what she started.

 

Gem looked at the traitor sprawled across the floor of the shuttle. His mind would be so easy to turn. He was a fine specimen. Perhaps she would enjoy turning this ‘Finn’, as her sister called him, to the dark side. She smiled. Skywalker had neglected to train him in the force. It would be nice to introduce him to the dark side without all the fuss of trying to cling to the ‘Jedi ways’. Gem sneered. Nice to take something else that ‘belonged’ to her sister.

She turned back to her task. She would deal with him later. She ignored the gold droid sitting lifeless against the wall. She’d switched him off when his petulant protests had become too piercing. For now she needed to focus on finding the last remnants of Snoke’s hoard. She’d felt him die and had been shocked and enraged but also happy. She could be her own person now. She could explore the dark side of the force in the way she wanted.

Gem had let the ship drift with the other battle debris and listing First Order ships. She’d reconfigured the shuttles signature to appear to be First Order at first scan. She was banking on people being too busy to notice a drifting First Order shuttle and wouldn’t actually check while there was bigger prey to deal with.

Meanwhile she scanned for specific signatures among the debris. She knew Snoke had kept many ancient relics and holocrons in his chrysalis. They were out there. A glimmer appeared on her scope. It wasn’t one of the specific ones she was looking for but she would take it and tractored it in. She continued her sweep. She found two more before she located one of the ones she really wanted. A black cube.

She carefully tractored each relic and holocron in while still looking for one more in particular. Her continuing search found two more holocrons and a relic. The relic was damaged and useless but the holocrons had survived. She had no idea what they were for but she would find out.

Gem tried a different scan frequency and turned up more relics and holocrons but no matter how much she searched she couldn’t find the white stone. Perhaps it had been destroyed. She hissed her frustration. She needed the cube and the stone.

The comm beeped and she startled. She couldn’t risk staying any longer. She hoped the black cube would be enough. She punched in her coordinates and engaged the hyper drive. Her sister would come after her soon enough. 

 

Ben had grimaced as he put some of his black robes of Ren on while the Falcon’s laundry compartment had dealt with his blood stained new robes. He realised how harsh and constricting the Robes or Ren were and only wore the pants and the undershirt. Oddly enough he’d found his mask as well, stuffed in a corner of the falcon like someone had tried to hide it. He frowned as he remembered seeing Poe’s droid dragging something with him back on Dasron. He shook his head. He’d leave that until he actually had to wear.

Ben watched Rey work with Chewie to finish the repairs to the Falcon so they could get his mother and Mikalas back to Admiral Akbar’s ship before leaving. Her hands were quick and everything about her was practical and efficient. He chewed the inside of his lip. There was something different about her. He could feel it across the bond. He followed her movements but there was nothing visibly different about her. She was a bit less inclined to smile but then they’d been through a lot. There was also the possibility that her mother was alive still. That would be preying on her mind.

He reached out across their bond, softly, like the seeds of a puff flower blown in the wind. Her thoughts were open but they were guarded too. Not a solid wall of defence. More like a deflection to keep him away from what she was really thinking. Her powers must still be growing even now if she was able to be so practiced with hiding her thoughts. She sent reassurance and love across their bond and he smiled, replying in turn.

Chewie reported that his mother’s shuttle did not appear on any of their scans but no-one had seen the shuttle leave either. Perhaps it had slipped through in the confusion of the post ‘death of Snoke’ battle. It was just that he had that feeling under his ribs that said the knights, what was left of them, were near. Ben wondered if Gem might still be in the vicinity but he thought it would be unlike the knight that was Sabira Ren. She would be focussed on her goal and would not let anything get in her way.

By the time they had the Falcon back together and in the air the battle was over and his mother was transmitting her orders regarding the mopping up and corralling of the remaining First Order fleet. Some had fled, including the Finalizer it seemed, but there were some that had not moved away from Snoke’s sphere in time, in spite of the message that had gotten through to them. Others had seen the writing on the wall and surrendered. With an awful certainty he realised that there were very few of the Knights of Ren that he knew still alive. Snoke had no doubt pressed some of the acolytes into service on the Rellian ships but it did not feel like they survived.

As Ben watched his mother take charge he realised this was where he’d learned to command others, from watching his mother do it. They docked with Admiral Akbar’s ship and, after one last hug, his mother was whisked away in a bevy of officers and analysts to oversee the surrender, or to at least be there to guide it away from further conflict.

Ben watched her go with disappointment. He missed her and would have gone with her but he knew her as well and so he let her go. He would stay on the Falcon until they left. It was better that others didn’t know he was here. In a way his life was still one lived in the shadows, they were just different, softer shadows now, away from the glare of power or prestige.

There was a step behind him. Rey had approached while he’d watched his mother leave.

“I’m going to see Kari and Phasma,” Rey said. “I heard what happened.” She wrapped her arms around him and he pulled her in close to him, relishing the merging of physical touch and force bond. As far as he was concerned they had a true force bond that was unbreakable. She belonged in his arms and he in hers.

 “Do you want me to say anything to Phasma for you,” she said. He shook his head.

“Better not. It would only raise suspicion,” he said. He wasn’t really up to a conversation with the Captain anyway. One day when things had settled he might talk to her about any Stormtroopers that left the First Order today, and he suspected there would be a large number. She would make the perfect leader of a Republic peace keeping force. That’s if she wasn’t still sold on the life of a bounty hunter.

Rey stretched up and kissed him on the mouth. He pulled her in tight again and kissed her back, enjoying the feel of her mouth under his and her body curved into him. This was no longer forbidden. He didn’t care what the old Jedi laws were. More than that though, Snoke didn’t have to be appeased anymore. When they broke apart and she looked up at him he was entranced by her smile and the softness in her eyes. He’d never let her go again.

There was a cough behind them. Ben cast a sideways glance at his uncle.

“I’m going to see if Leia will loan me an X-wing,” he muttered. Ben smirked and kissed Rey again for good measure. She pushed him away with a gentle hand.

“I’ll never go at this rate,” she said and followed Luke and R2 out. She looked back and smiled but there was something in her eyes that unsettled Ben.

“Don’t be long,” he said. Her smile broadened and this time there was genuine warmth in her eyes.

Ben turned back to the lounge of the Falcon. This beast of a ship held too many memories for him but at least now they didn’t cut so deep. Chewie was in the co-pilot’s seat, checking switches and settings.  Sanjo had gone with his father to say goodbye. There was a ship leaving for Coruscant soon where he could get a transport back to Dastron. Coruscant, that old cesspool of politics and corruption, had never really been sidelined with a great deal of Republic and First Order business still happening there.

He sat down in the lounge and just let himself feel what it was like to no longer have Snoke there somewhere in the back of his mind. He could think for himself. It was wonderful and terrifying. His mind drifted, just letting the force ebb and flow through him, feeling the pulse of the light as well as that bit of darkness that was still the other part of him. It seemed they no longer fought. He was Ben Solo and Kylo Ren was just a part of him, a smaller part. Ben was in control of his life and who he was.

There were heavy footsteps on the ramp of the Falcon. He knew those steps. What was she doing here? He thought she’d been injured. Maybe it wasn’t as bad as they’d thought. He stood up as the chrome clad former Captain of the First Order loomed into view. She lifted her helmet from her head, sporting a bacta patch on the side of her head, and spoke to him face to face, a luxury that they had rarely afforded themselves in the First Order.

“We need to follow the Finalizer,” she said.

Ben looked into her brilliant blue eyes and felt the emotions coming off her. Determination, anger, worry.

“Why?” he said, not in a way that told her he was against the idea, just that he would need convincing it should be a priority now.

“We need to stop Hux. I won’t let him start with those children again,” she said. Ben shivered. Yes, that should never happen again. “Besides, he’s taken Imri. I have a vested interest in getting her back.” By that Ben figured she was still sold on the idea of being a bounty hunter.

“As soon as Rey and Sanjo get back we’ll be heading out to hunt down Sabira Ren. She’s taken Ayerus Windu captive.”

Phasma raised an eyebrow and huffed. He knew what she was thinking. Would it forever be that her wayward Stormtrooper was in some kind of trouble. She shook her head.

“What about Luke Skywalker,” she said.

“He’s coming in an X-wing,” Ben said. Phasma scowled.

“Oh…Then that wasn’t Rey I saw heading out in an X-wing.”

Ben stiffened. “What.” He reached out to Rey through the force but he felt like he was sliding down any icy slope.

There were more footsteps on the Falcon’s ramp.

“Hurry up Sanjo, were going.” Ben and Phasma turned to stare at Poe Dameron as he barrelled his way through the Falcon’s lounge towards the cockpit. Sanjo ran behind him, his eyes the size of saucers and his mouth open. He looked at Ben.

“Rey stole Poe’s X-wing. He just got it fixed. She’s gone after her sister…with BB-8. Master Skywalker says we have to stop her.”

For a moment Ben couldn’t move. He couldn’t be hearing this. He rushed to the cockpit and looked out at the stars and lights that were the milling ships of both the First Order and the Republic. He found one light in particular and followed its path. He reached out to her again but this time he was forcibly blocked from her mind. He cried out to her across the bond with two words that it seemed he’d been saying his whole life.

_Don’t go_.

Ben felt like he was slamming his fists against a locked durasteel door. His mind was racing and the blood was thumping past his ears in a deafening beat that shut out all reason.

She didn’t reply. Instead the X-wing engines flared and disappeared into hyperspace. He clenched his fists as his heart pounded against his chest. She’d left him...so cool, so…dark side of the force. Realisation exploded within him. It was just like Snoke. That part of him that was Kylo Ren loomed large within him. The part that fed on those old feelings of abandonment, feelings that were now raw again. She had gone after Gem on her own and left him behind.

Chewie barked and Ben turned to him. He handed Ben a comm headset. He put them on.

“Ben.”

Ben felt his heart settle just a little at his uncle’s voice. He could feel his presence there, strong and steadfast and Ben gripped hard the old bond there. His uncle’s words were fast and full of worry though.

“Obi-Wan told me what Rey did. She used the force to help strengthen me after my father pulled the dark power from me. She interfered somehow. Some of the dark power escaped into her. I know what it felt like. It’s almost impossible to overcome unless you’re willing to die to let it go. We have to stop her but…you might have to…”

Ben heard his uncle’s words catch and felt a corresponding lump in his own throat and the burning of tears behind his eyes as something akin to a physical pain seared through his chest. His uncle continued but his voice cracked as he spoke. Ben closed his eyes and tried to keep the thought from his head. He knew what his uncle was going to say and dreaded it.

“You might have to….you might have be Kylo Ren for little while again.”

Ben swallowed. It wasn’t quite what he’d expected Luke to say but he got the meaning. Ben would never kill her but Kylo Ren would…if he had to. He could feel Kylo Ren already taking hold. The vision of the tree came to mind. There would always be two of him and the dark side would always be ready to take the lead if he let it. While Ben would always recognise the light within a person, Kylo Ren would always recognise the darkness. It was a duality that unnerved him but he knew it was what would give him the ability to know…he closed his eyes and calmed his breathing…to know who would turn to the light and who would not.

He refused to think it would end that way. Instead he let his mind turn to another thought that clawed at his mind. He wasn’t quite willing to voice it but he knew Luke was thinking it too. They’d both seen the dark side in Finn’s future. Would Rey be the one who would take him there? For her sake he’d once restrained himself enough to let FN2187 live. Could he do that again?

Kylo Ren stood cold and hard as the Falcon’s engines roared beneath his feet. Poe and Chewie took them out, guiding them through the field of debris and ships adrift. Poe already had a lock on his X-Wing and transmitted the coordinates straight to Luke. Kylo Ren frowned as he looked at the numbers on the screen. She wasn’t going where he expected. He looked at Phasma then they both turned back to the view of space as the stars lengthened and whirled into the patterns of hyperspace.  


	40. Chapter 40

“This is not good.”

“Told you I did. A problem there was. The future and the balance are not always together.”

“Yes but I was so sure. I saw it in the path. This was the way. Snoke’s power would ebb back out of the galaxy. Luke was just a momentary store for the overflow that I corrected and then it would have all been over. Balance restored. ”

A sigh interrupted the conversation.

“Anakin. You still have much to learn young one.”

“Oh really. She’s your granddaughter.”

Obi-Wan scowled. “I tried to stop her but she ignored me.”

“Oh. Aha! Now you know what it’s like.”

“Are you really that surprised Leia won’t lis…”

“Bickering help will not. Qui-Gon soon will be here.”

Anakin toyed with the white stone in his hand. He ran a finger along the ancient script carved into the surface and it reformed into a new verse.

“How is it I can still mess up even when I’m completely at one with the force?”

“Yes, well. I’m sure the Whill’s will have the answer. They have never lead Qui-Gon down the wrong path yet.”

“Are you saying I was lead down a wrong path?”

“No. Just that, as Yoda said, the balance and the future don’t always come together.”

Anakin huffed and sat down in his field and flicked the force at a seed pod of a spring plant. The seeds exploded into the grass where the ground would receive them and turn them into new spring plants. A prolific array of simple white flowers would then emerge, which the children were always keen to pick this time of year. Anakin loved to watch the children take them back and lay them on the resting place of the Queens and Senators of Naboo.

Anakin moved forward in the force and watched. He bowed his head and closed his eyes.

“Oh Padme. Our son. I have caused him so much pain. ”

A warmer presence emerged beside him.

“And yet it is how it should be.”

Anakin looked up. “The Whill knows.”

“She knew.”

Anakin smiled. “She likes you Qui-Gon.”

“And I like her.”

They watched the balance. As always Anakin was fascinated by it.

“You will have to teach Luke the language of the Whills.”

Anakin frowned. “And how do I do this. Snoke was the last of those who knew any of it.”

Qui-Gon reached out and touched the stone that Anakin shuffled from one hand to the other. A shimmer appeared on its surface for a moment and disappeared.

“Where do you think Snoke learned it from?” Qui-Gon said.

Anakin lifted the white stone and looked at it and smiled. He turned the stone over in his hand, smoothed his finger across it and the ancient verses gave up their secrets like they were written in basic.

“How was it that in the end Snoke didn’t know which was the right talisman to save him.”

Qui-Gon chuckled. “I guess the deceiver was himself deceived. The stone was never meant to be read with the dark side of the force.”

Anakin turned to him. “The Whills play for the long run don’t they?”

“They will be there at the end.”

Anakin frowned. “I’m counting on it.”

 

 

Finn awoke with a start, dazed and hurting. His head ached as did his side. It didn’t take much to realise it had been a kick to his side that had woken him. He looked about. He was still on the General’s shuttle. He saw C3P0 leaning against the wall, deactivated.

He could hear the hum of the hyperdrive.

Finn tensed. He knew he wasn’t alone. He’d just finished sending his message through all frequencies when he’d heard a footstep behind him. He hadn’t had time to turn around when pain exploded in the back of his head and…he’d woken up on the floor a few moments ago.

He looked up and froze, his mind fogging with fear. A black clad Knight of Ren sat in the pilot’s chair, which she had swivelled about so she could stare down at him. Her helmet had been removed to reveal her face. This wasn’t something they normally did if Finn’s memory served him well.

Finn felt the skin on the back of his neck prickle.

The face looking back at him was familiar but not familiar. She looked like Rey but definitely wasn’t Rey. Scarred, older and bitter, this woman was Rey from some kind of nightmare. If he looked closer though her skin was paler and her hair was darker but her eyes were the same. Except they weren’t the same in the way it mattered. While Rey’s eyes were full of light and hope, even when they were coloured with wrath or sadness, this woman’s eyes were dark with hate and anger. When she spoke there was a bitter twist to her mouth.

“FN-2187. The traitor.”

Finn ground his teeth at his former designation. He said nothing but tried to remember. What was her name? Not the one she’d taken to be a Knight of Ren. The name Rey had called her.

“Gem,” he croaked out. Pain assaulted his mind and he yelped. It was gone just as soon as it had come. He rolled on his side and held his head in his hands.

“You know my proper name,” she said. Finn wasn’t going to give her the courtesy of using her adopted name if she wasn’t going to give him the same. He glared up at her.

“Gemmelyn Kenobi,” he said. Gem spat her next words.

“I was never a Kenobi. I was forced to take a name that never belonged to me.” Another pain wracked his mind but this time he didn’t embarrass himself by crying out. The pain lasted longer and by the time it left he was sweating and his heart was racing. He tried to breathe in and out to calm himself, that old battle technique that Phasma had taught them. Problem was that just like at the village on Jakku, it wasn’t working very well right now. What he needed was to know how Rey and Ren and Luke did it.

“I can teach you how to overcome pain, how to stay calm. I can teach you many things. Far better things than those whom you’ve left behind,” she said.

Finn couldn’t be sure if she’d read his mind or was just good at reading body language and making guesses.

“I can’t read your thoughts specifically but I can get a sense of what you’re thinking,” Gem said.

Finn decided that was bad enough. The last thing he needed was someone digging around his head the way Kylo Ren did.

“I’ll pass on the dark side training,” Finn muttered.

“A pity. It might have saved you a lot of pain,” she said. Finn looked up, about to demand what she meant by that when his words were cut off. He saw her hand move to something about her wrist when pain like a burning spike went down the length of his spine then radiated out into every part of his body. He roared as his body thrashed and his mind went blank. He didn’t know how long it lasted but when he finally came to he tasted the salt of tears in his mouth and and felt a tremor through his body that left him weakened and confused.

“I know your name is Ayerus Windu but as Jaru Ren you would be far greater than your ancestor, that treacherous Jedi who tried to murder Emperor Palpatine. You would be stronger than Kylo Ren. You would be strong enough to stop me hurting you.”

Considering what he knew about the Knights of Ren he would definitely not be going there.

“Sorry, not a Vader fan,” he muttered.

Gem sighed. “I’d prefer not to do this but, as Snoke often said. Some things are done for the greater good.”

Finn didn’t like the sound of that. Gem took out a small red sphere. Insignificant by all appearances but when Gem closed her eyes and ran her thumb across it in a swirling line a panel slid back. She reached in with a finger and turned something inside it. Finn heard a click and felt something begin to gnaw at his gut. The panel slid back and the top of the sphere looked flat with no sign of there being anything inside it. Gem spoke a word he didn’t quite catch and the sphere levitated from her hand. The sphere began to glow as evil looking black spikes emerged from the sphere.

The sphere floated towards Finn and he scrambled back away from it. His heart was hammering in his chest and sweat poured down his forehead. There was an alarm screaming in his head. More than just an alarm. He could hear screams as though they had emerged from the past to claw at his mind.

Finn hit the wall behind him and froze. His mouth dropped open as the sphere came level with his eyes.

“You can stop it from hurting you if you let the power of the darkness flow. It will retreat from you if it feels your power.”

Finn shook his head. He’d seen where the dark side lead. He would not go there. Gem laughed, her eyes growing bright with intense interest. A red arc of power built along the spikes and shot out, spearing him directly in his chest. The pain was unlike anything he’d ever experienced. He knew he was going to die.

“Fight it Finn. Use your fear, your anger. Protect yourself.” Finn clutched his chest then extended his hands as though to ward off the power striking at him. The power wound about his arms and body in searing arcs that threatened to send him out of his mind. He didn’t know what to do. He just wanted it to stop.

“You can destroy the sphere Finn. Use your hate. Destroy it. You have the power. Use it.”

Finn curled himself into a ball and wrapped his hands over his head. He could hear himself sobbing. He wouldn’t listen to her. He wouldn’t let her get to him. He pulled himself, everything he sensed about himself, his mind, his emotions, everything into a ball along with his body. He could feel something close about him. The fiery arcs of power still spread across his body as though they would burn his skin off, but he could just about bear it.

Gem spat a curse at him and turned away. The sphere backed away and powered down. Finn lay there sobbing, shaking and gulping in erratic breaths of air. Gem paced over to him and stared down at him, her face cold and hard.

“We will try again…when you have composed yourself.”

 

 

Hux cursed and swore revenge against everyone that had put him in this position. Scrambling through the floor space of his very own ship to escape his own quarters – he burned with the shame and rage of it. He would not let this go. When he got past those troopers, _his_ Storm Troopers, his father be damned, he would find _his_ Twi Lek and take her back to Skath Holding where she belonged. Where he could keep her under control. He had not come this far just so old men and ambitious upstarts could take his position and power from him.

Hux smiled when he thought of the young Jedi girl who’d first given him the idea of how to escape. Impertinent creature that she was, he still found a little smile on his lips as his hand travelled unthinking to the barely healed wound on his face. He huffed and moved on.

Hux pushed out the wall panel just a little and decided the corridor was clear. He grimaced as he felt his coat snag on a sharp piece of the grate. He eased himself through, wriggling so he wouldn’t tear anything. There was nothing worse than a shabby uniform. It did not give the professional look he desired at all. At least he’d taken the time to have a shower and put on a new uniform. He pulled his cap down hard on his head though. It would provide some cover but not enough. He hoped that all security eyes would be focussed on the front door of his quarters not the junior officer’s corridor two sections over.

He looked about. He knew there would be an elevator at the end of the corridor where he could descend to the detention centre. He also knew that his father would have had his code invalidated. He’d removed his tracking buttons from his belt and his coat in his quarters. It meant he had no way of accessing the elevators and the detention centre but he would improvise.

A door slid open and one of his lieutenant’s stepped out. He wasn’t expecting to see Hux standing there, which was why Hux got the jump on him with his pistol, the one he’d secretly stashed in his wall cavity for just this sort of situation. Hux grimaced as the man went down. A shame really, the man was a good officer, if inclined toward too much alcohol and fighting when off duty. Hux pulled the tracking buttons from his clothing and slipped them into his pockets. He heaved the body back into the officer’s room and moved on. Without hesitation he keyed in the numbers he needed and rode the elevator down to the detention centre level.

So far boldness and luck had been his ally. They may hold for now but his boldness may be about to get him into trouble and as for luck, Hux never really trusted that it would go his way in the end. His father would have made it known that his son was not to be allowed anywhere outside his own quarters. He stopped and reminded himself of the layout of the detention centre. It was one place he’d made sure he knew the full layout. Escaping prisoners were more than just an inconvenience, they were an embarrassment he would not allow. Amusing that now he was about to ensure one of those prisoners did escape, hopefully to his father’s embarrassment.

Hux pulled his cap down and strode into the detention centre reception. A few looked up but no one made a move initially.

“Ah sir, can I help you.” Hux ignored the man, stepped up to a console and quickly punched in the overriding code to open all detention centre cell doors. His father would not have thought to cancel that.

“What are you doing?” Hux held up a hand, nothing like a commanding presence to bluff your way through, while he punched in another command to extinguish the bright lights of the detention centre so the red back up lighting came on instead. The eerie atmosphere added to the general confusion as prisoners began to exit their cells and officers and troopers stumbled about in the semi-dark. Hux remained where he was, looking for one prisoner only. It wasn’t long before he saw skin made purple in the red light and head tails, one missing its end bit, and tracked the passage of its owner. He waited for her to pass close to him then whipped out a hand and snagged her arm in a strong grip, pulling her back against him. She squeaked in surprise but the sound was lost in the shouting and fighting. He jammed the pistol against her head and hissed in her ear.

“You’re coming with me.” It wasn’t hard to slip out through the pandemonium. Now, before he took her to Skath Holding there were a few things he needed her to do first. Then, if memory served, there was an upsilon class command shuttle on board currently not being used by its owner.

 

 

Ben had tried to direct Sanjo in lessons on using the force. The problem was his mind kept wandering back to Rey. Her absence was eating at him more than he expected. She could not be lost to him. He kept pushing that fear down again and again until he started muttering to himself. He tried to focus on the here and now and not let possibilities that hadn’t yet happened devour whatever sense of composure he had left.

Sanjo, it seemed, had quite an analytical mind. Ben suspected he was the kind of kid who’d kept asking the question “why” as a child until his parents were ready to tear their hair out. In learning the technique for deflecting blaster bolts just using the force the kid had started to figure out the training ball’s weakness and managed to catch the flying sphere. Of course it had then zapped his fingers numb. Ben was actually quite impressed – even he hadn’t thought to try and catch the thing. If he didn’t know it was just an inanimate object he’d swear the thing was scared of Sanjo.

Ben paced towards the cockpit and back again to the lounge. He felt constricted and chafed with the Robes of Ren back on. He hated them now but he would have to bear with it. He looked over at the mask where it sat on the floor at the end of the lounge. He would leave it off until he absolutely had to put it back on. He walked over and looked down at it. He no longer believed in its dark side power. The problem was it kept following him no matter how many times he cast it aside. Starkiller, the bottom of the Dastronian ocean and then Katigal City. Even there it had made it onto the Falcon, via BB-8 he suspected. What was it about…

Ben went still, his mouth ajar.

…what was it that was scrawled across the crown of his mask. He bent and picked it up to get a better look. Precision laser work had been carved into the hard black surface in a late generation droid code. A dialect often used by astromech droids. Ben stared at the word, because that’s what the symbols formed – a _word_ , scrawled precisely where it could only be read if you were looking down at the mask from above.

Ben’s mouth compressed into a hard line. He suspected Poe’s droid, BB-8. He was pretty sure that little ball of vindictive loyalty was to blame. Or R2D2. Probably both. Actually R2 had probably corrupted the younger droid’s memory banks with his “too old for you” wise arse roguishness. He remembered that 3PO was always berating R2 for some rude joke or slight. Ben ground his teeth. Whichever droid had vandalised his mask it had no doubt been inspired by a certain pilot’s dislike for him. He understood that. He clenched his fists. He knew he had no right to be mad but he was.

Ben glared at the back of the head of the man sitting in the pilot’s seat. If there was one thing that irked him about Poe Dameron it was that he looked too damn comfortable in his father’s seat. He also got to see more of his mother than Ben did. He’d told himself back on the Finalizer when he interrogated Poe it didn’t matter who he was and that he worked with his mother. Yet he knew deep down he’d gone hard with Poe’s interrogation for personal reasons. He’d stomped through Poe’s mind in an effort not to see his mother there but had not been able to block her out completely, irritating himself further. Right now those personal reasons weren’t helping his frame of mind.

He strode to the cockpit and placed the mask right where Poe couldn’t fail to see it or read what was now inscribed across the top of the mask. Chewie flicked him a dark look but went back to what he was doing. Poe paused in reading a particular screen output and opened his mouth to grouse at Ben for putting his stuff in the way. As he turned to Ben his gaze found the mask and ultimately the rude inscription that now graced its upper surface.

Poe went still, very still. Ben could feel the idiot smothering a laugh, even though his face never moved a muscle. Fine, Ben could play that game too. He kept all emotion from his voice.

“It’s written in a new generation binary droid dialect. The kind modern BB units use.” Poe scowled and turned to him and snarled.

“What are you saying?”

Ben left Poe hanging on that one and instead pointed at the inscription.

“The last time I heard that word it came out of your mouth.” Ben wasn’t going to let Poe off for this. Just because Ben was still the resident pariah didn’t mean he should also be the target for petty vindictive acts.

Poe waved a dismissive hand and smiled. “Sure. I called you _spacedirt_ but that doesn’t mean BB-8 inscribed it on your mask. Although I have to say he’s very creative…”

Ben turned away to collect his thoughts. Besides, Chewie had settled an unimpressed eye on him. Ben felt the little stabs of anger eating at him. He knew it was going to take a lot to undo what he’d done, if he ever could, but this was not acceptable.

“I’d say R2 put him up to it.” Poe said. Ben stopped and spun around, his fingers flexing to dispel some of their tension.

“You’re blaming R2.” He didn’t care if he’d already thought of that. “Maybe you’d like to blame 3PO as well.” He waved a hand in the air for emphasis. “Yes, that’s right. 3PO did it.”

“Alright. It wasn’t R2 or 3PO. That doesn’t mean it was BB-8. Maybe that inscription’s been there longer than you realised. Maybe it was a First Order droid.”

Ben’s hand itched to wring Poe’s neck but he quashed the sensation. He knew BB-8 had done it but had Poe said something to him. The problem was that Poe’s mocking stare was getting under his skin. He turned away and tried to calm himself but…it would be easy just to…if he was quick, gentle (this time), he didn’t even have to get close to Poe. He could slip past and see….

“If you’re planning on another sightseeing tour, just to check, be sure you see the part where you made your mother cry as well.”

Ben felt it like a knife in his back. He spun back around, his lightsabre hilt flying to his hand. If anyone deserved to be run through it was this idiot. Ben could feel Poe’s fear even though his chin was raised and his lip curled in defiance. He suppressed his surging heart rate and the bitter sting of tears at the back of his eyes. He knew he would never make up for what he did but he was going to try.

Ben felt weak, a feeling he’d tried so hard to stomp out by giving himself to the dark side. From the corner of his eye he could see Sanjo trying to lift heavy cargo boxes in the lounge area. Chewie growled. Phasma had started to walk towards the cockpit as well, sensing trouble.

Ben forced his breath out between clenched teeth. He was going to have to let this go. He couldn’t let the dark side in. What the hell would Poe know about the way things were between him and his mother? He had to stay strong for Rey. He also had a student to think about. And he would not give Poe the satisfaction of knowing he got under his skin.

He clipped his sabre back to his belt and turned away but he could feel Poe’s confusion and rising anger. Let him stew. Ben stalked back to where he could supervise Sanjo. Rey was still foremost in his mind though. He breathed in and told himself he would get her back. He grimaced. Wrong attitude. He would follow the will of the force and…damn it he would get her back.

Ben watched Sanjo for a moment. When he thought no-one was watching the boy pulled out a ring with a green jewel from his pocket and looked at it. The hair on the back of Ben’s neck stood on end. It was the Dastronian force block he’d used to conceal Rey from the force. Mikalas must have given it to him. He thought of Rey. Maybe, just maybe. He breathed and reached for the peace that came of letting go. He would not overplay his hand in this by forcing an outcome because he wanted it. The memory of Rey as she’d kissed him and walked away, smiling, lurched in his mind, burning at the centre of his heart. That can’t have been the end of them. They hadn’t even…he clenched his fists. He would be patient. He would get her back. He just had to think and not get distracted.

He strode back to the cockpit where he could see the blur of hyperspace. He let his mind reach out. Rey was still blocking him. He paced back towards the lounge. He gave Sanjo a few pointers about telekinesis. The boy looked at him with wide wondering eyes for a moment but then he started again, using Ben’s tips. Ben couldn’t help a little smile of his own as he saw Sanjo’s mouth widen in a grin. Ben watched him for a while making slight corrections but was pleased to see the way the kid learned so quickly. Ben nodded for him to continue and paced back towards the cockpit.

Ben didn’t know how long he’d stared at the blur of hyperspace. No matter how many times he tried to reach out to Rey she kept slipping away. He hated this feeling of powerlessness. The dark side beckoned to him like a comforting blanket he could wrap around himself to keep out the feelings, to focus his mind on his goals, to overcome his fears.

He shut it down.

Whatever the dark side offered it took more than it gave.

He breathed and reached for calm.

Except calm was a poor substitute for peace.

Rey, smiling, leaving, knowing she wasn’t coming back. He closed his eyes against the memory but that only made it shine brighter, more painfully, in his mind’s eye. Anger rolled across him like thunder. She had gone, leaving with no word or indication of her intentions. That last good bye had been a lie. One of many in his life. He bowed his head and turned away from the blur of space. Something cold and hard formed in his chest. He put a hand over it. He’d held Rey’s hand over the spot on more than one occasion. Without her touch that place in his heart was bound to grow cold and hard again.

Twice more he paced back and forth from the lounge to the cockpit, each time giving Sanjo further instructions or making corrections on his technique. He paced back to the cockpit again.

Poe looked up at him, irritation exploding from him like a starved rancor breaking free from its pen. Ben huffed and was about to turn away.

A stab of pain assaulted his mind, blinding him. His breath caught in his throat. It wasn’t his own pain that he felt. He focussed. It wasn’t Rey’s. It subsided and he could see again the mundane walls of the ship around him. He breathed, seeking the calm and reached out. He waited but it didn’t come again straight away. Ben was about to let it go when it flared again. This time it lasted longer. Ben shuddered. He knew what this was. He wrapped his arms about himself. Dark side torture. He shook his head. Who?

With a sick feeling Ben knew without having to verify who. His mind still held a residue of the link he’d made with Finn on Ahch-To. Gem was trying to force Finn to the dark side. His stomach turned as the unfortunate man broadcast his agony like it was a supernova. The intensity of it was evidence of Finn’s power in the force. Finn’s sensitivity had been suppressed by the First Order programming but now it was obvious.

The pain ended. In its place he could feel Rey’s mind open to him again. Her anger was like an inferno. He reached for her but she closed herself off again, leaving him feeling as though he’d been burned.

_Rey, please come back to me._ It was useless he knew but he had to try.

“If you’re just going to stand there looking menacing then can you go do it somewhere else.”

Ben focussed on Poe. He ignored the irritation pouring off the man and focussed on what he needed.

“Can you get this bucket to go any faster,” Ben said. Chewie huffed a contemptuous response.

“Yes, but I know dad had some tricks to get it to go…”

Chewie growled. Ben’s ire prickled. He was not stupid. He knew what the Falcon could do.

Poe stood and pointed a finger at his face. “We can fly this thing fast enough to get there before Rey and before Gem.” Frustration surged up inside Ben, catching him off guard.

He loomed over Poe. “We better get there first or your friend is going to pay for it.”

Of course Poe was going to take that the wrong way. Finn was already paying for it, courtesy of Gem, but Poe didn’t know that. He took it as a threat. Poe’s fist was already swinging and Ben had to catch it in a force hold. They looked daggers at each other but no-one wanted to back down.

Chewie was on his feet and growling. Phasma’s armoured hand was on Ben’s shoulder. He could feel everyone’s expectations like they were knives in his ribs. He was going to use the darkside to do…something. They were all scared of him. He could use that fear. And he was just angry enough not to care.

With just a push Poe flew across the floor from where he was blocking the way to his father’s seat. Ben went to slide into the seat but Chewie was there faster than he thought. Ben pushed him back with the force but misjudged the power needed. A huge hairy arm swept him aside. He collided with Phasma who shoved him back to his feet. Poe was on his feet again now and came in with both fists swinging. Ben just wanted to get back to the pilot seat. He froze Poe in place.

Chewie came at him again, roaring threats and obscenities, but this time Phasma went for the Wookie with a suicidal leap onto his back to clamp an arm around his neck. It was the sort of move she had used on occasion to break an opponent’s neck but she hadn’t picked her battle well and ended up swept into the wall.

Ben, distracted for a moment by the menacing Wookie let Poe go. Poe whipped out a blaster and got a shot off. Ben caught the blast and deflected it into a safe target, some kind of storage canister. Which turned out not to be a safe target as smoke was now coming from the canister. He used the force to seal it off as best he could but it would need to be ejected soon.

Poe had taken advantage of Ben’s need to deal with the smoking canister and planted a boot in his thigh, causing him to stumble. Ben reared up ready to grab Poe around the throat with a force choke…and started tumbling. They all started tumbling. Ben was looking at the floor one moment and the ceiling the next. He clenched his fists and used the force to stop himself from lurching side to side. He ended up on his back looking at the celling. This wasn’t loss of gravity. Everything else stayed on the floor. No! It was the force. It was being used by someone who had a great deal of force sensitivity and a talent for lifting things but had not yet developed a lot of control.

Sanjo.

Ben squeezed his eyes shut as a surge of heat swept across his face. He’d lost it like an amateur Sith in front of his student. What a great way to start his teaching career.

Chewie was howling with rage while Phasma…sounded like she was laughing.

“Master Solo.” Ben turned his head to glare at Sanjo.

Sanjo’s wide, scared eyes and his shaky voice were a slap across Ben’s face and the term of respect, ‘Master’, was another slap for good measure.

Poe started yelling.

“Put me down, you piece of space dirt.” Of course Poe thought Ben was doing this. “If you’re mother could see you …”

Everyone crashed to the floor. Chewie was still howling, Phasma was still laughing, Poe was now cursing the pain in his butt and Ben was livid.

Poe had dared mention his mother again.

He was going to lash out.

Poe had overstepped the line. And he was the closest target. And right now Ben hated him.

Without realising it he was in danger.

Sweet and easy it beckoned.

The dark side.

Take your revenge.

You can be with Rey.

He ignited his sabre and started swinging.

So weak. He was always so weak.

The proximity alarm went off.


	41. Chapter 41

Maz stood just inside the woods as she watched the builders and architects who were going to rebuild her castle. She’d saved the most important things from the wreckage. Those things she’d stored in her basement. She watched as Emmie poured over data screens and old schematics with the architects. Her ancient droid friend was familiar with the castle’s original construction and had a wealth of knowledge on its reconstruction. Emmie had also noted over the years various improvements that could be made.

Maz had felt the balance shifting. It had felt good. The future was good. It wasn’t until she had been sure that the balance was returning that she had begun the process to rebuild. With amazement and relief she’d felt Snoke die. Now she was more comfortable to come out in the open. Any movement on this sight would otherwise have once again attracted unwelcome attention.

She wandered over to the edge of Nymeve Lake and gazed at its shivering surface as a breeze tickled its water’s. Her eyes were drawn to the water. A frown deepened the wrinkles in her ancient face. There was something not quite right. Yes, she could feel the subtle peace of balance returning except…somewhere, somehow, there was a snag.

A flurry of wind and leaves skittered out across the water. Maz closed her eyes and let the force speak. Yes, a snag that would become a far worse source of imbalance.

Maz opened her eyes and turned to watch Emmie again. She would leave the reconstruction in her hands. This time Maz would go alone. This time it would be more than just a trip to see what was wrong in the galaxy. Maz sighed and shook her head. She preferred to keep her involvement in galactic affairs to a minimum but this time she was going to have to intervene.

 

 

Luke came out of his vision just as the proximity alarm went off in the new tandem X-Wing Leia had insisted he take. He was coming up on the Skathian system.

Luke stared at the blur of space, open mouthed. The language of the Whills, a white stone and a black cube. He would need these three things. He shook his head.

Luke flicked some switches and checked his readouts. The starfield emerged before him. Skath Prime was an average looking planet and according to its readout, still claimed to be neutral. The last time he was here it didn’t seem so. But then the First Order was crumbling as he was flying here and the Republic didn’t carry much weight in these regions of space any more. Skath Prime could claim what it wished.

The same as last time he felt no ripple in the force. Galena had been strong in the force. He would have felt her. Perhaps he was wasting his time here but there was a feeling he couldn’t ignore. She was here, whatever his senses told him.

He began his search over Skath Holding. This was where Imri had said Rey’s mother was. Trying to find someone who by all evidence wasn’t there wouldn’t be easy. He’d thought her dead once before and had overlooked that little pull on his thoughts to look into it further. He wasn’t going to ignore it again.

Solia’s force block had taught him something. He would need to get closer to the planet. It would be hard to find it even if he was close.

“R2, can you take us into low orbit and hold us there.”

His friend beeped and Luke began to call on all sides of the force, letting it flow, reaching out, searching…

…yes, there it was. It wasn’t like a light or beacon or something that could be felt. It was more like a point of nothing, a blind spot.

A point where the force by all rights should gather but instead flowed on by as though it were oblivious to what was there. Was it a natural phenomenon or had it been built like this. He suspected it was a natural phenomenon that the builders had taken advantage of.

R2 beeped a query. Luke frowned. There was something wedged into a panel near his top wing.

“You think we picked up some space junk back over Ahch-To before we left maybe,” he said. R2 whistled.

“I’ll have a look when we land. It doesn’t seem to be causing any trouble at the moment.”

Landing was just a matter of cash. Republic credits seemed to carry more weight than they did last time. It seemed word was already filtering through. Fortunately they weren’t as strict about where he landed as they were that he paid for it. Luke scanned the area where he could feel the anomaly in the force. Nothing indicated anything more than the main Skath Holding facility.

If Snoke had kept a cell where there was a natural force block under Skath Holding then he would not have the one and only entrance being the front door of the Holding. He would have wanted his own secret entrance. He set the X-Wing to a gentle glide towards this location to give himself some time. Reaching out in the force he found the force blocked area again and began to investigate the surrounds with both his scans and the force. There was a tunnel leading to the force blocked area.

Luke took the X-wing down in the general direction of the main port for Skath Holding but dipped down out of tracking range before he got too close, skimming the vegetation. His scanners picked up a small landing area and an entrance perched on the side of a cliff in a ravine on the edge of the city. This was what he was looking for.

Landing was easy. There was a small building at the edge of the landing platform but it was abandoned. There was no way off the landing pad except through the door. Luke reached out to it but it had a force lock on it. Easy enough to open if you could use the force but impossible for anyone else.

R2 beeped. Luke nodded. He turned back to his ship and looked for the space junk they had picked up. May as well get rid of it now. He might not have the time on the way back.

“You may as well come down R2,” Luke said. R2 made a rude sound. Luke frowned and looked at the mechanism to allow the droid to descend.

“It seems that piece of space junk we picked up is what’s stopping you from getting down.” Luke reached in to get a hold of it and yanked at it. It didn’t come free easily so when it finally let go he tumbled backwards.

“Idiot! Should have used the force to get it out,” he muttered to himself. He didn’t like using the force for every last thing though. He picked up the object, a white stone. He looked at it and frowned. Intricate carvings decorated the stone.

There was something about this stone. For one thing it reeked in the force of Snoke. Yet it was of different origin to the so called Supreme Leader. He must have picked it up in the debris after Snoke’s ship blew up. Odd that it would get past the shields though.

A whisper came to his ear and he remembered the vision. There had been a white stone.

Ahh.

He smoothed his thumb across it. What he thought were intricate carvings became words. A whisper came to him and he repeated it. The air about him electrified. The force seemed to quicken. He looked closer at the stone. Other words came to him, from the stone and the whispers, as though he was learning a new language just looking at the stone.

Luke shook his head. He would investigate the stone later, he needed to keep going for now. He slipped the stone into a pocket.

He turned towards the locked door as R2, now able to descend from the X-wing, trundled along behind. At the door entrance he reached out in the force to open the lock.

Nothing.

Of course. The force blocked area reached to the door. He looked about. Perhaps there was an access panel he could tamper with.

Nothing.

Typical Snoke. A door that no-one could get in or out except him.

There had to be a way.

A whisper – that sounded like his father – yelling from far away. He closed his eyes and sighed.

_The stone._

Luke ran a hand over his face and beard. Of course. The stone didn’t just happen to get stuck in his ship.

He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at it. There was a shimmer and he smoothed his thumb across it again. He repeated the words that came to him and without complaint the door opened. He put the stone back in his pocket for now.

R2 made a series of beeps and whistles that could only be described as a chortle.

“Of course it’s easy when you have the right tools.” He whispered a thank you through the force and a warm touch on his shoulder came back to him.

Luke entered a long corridor. He felt as though he were naked. The force was gone, its comforting presence disappeared and in its place, nothing. A little panic rose up in him and he breathed and pushed it down. He was so used to the force just being there it threw him a little when he couldn’t feel it. He knew it was still there but he couldn’t touch it. He shook his head. He got a strange impression that the force wasn’t absent but somehow reversed and that if he knew how then it would be available to him still, just in a different way. Something else for him to meditate on later.

He wobbled as a moving walkway started up a few steps inside the entrance. Every reflex reaction to use the force went unanswered. He breathed in and just let himself focus on his task, like a normal person. It was soothing in one way and disconcerting in another.

R2 beeped. They had come to the end of the corridor and another door. Luke repeated the words from outside but of course they didn’t work. He pulled out the stone and looked at it, rubbing its surface. To his surprise it continued to show him the words he needed to say. Whatever the stone was it worked in a different way, as though it had its own source of the force, untouched by the surrounding force block or reversal. He was definitely going to have to investigate it when this was all over.

Luke spoke the words and the door opened in one smooth soundless motion. It was the simple movement of the air that told him there was a large open space beyond. He couldn’t feel what was beyond. All he could do was hope this went okay. Luke stepped through the door…

…and was nearly crushed by the weight of the force that held him down. He could not budge. How could this be happening? He tried to pull the force to him but it went past him as though he wasn’t even there.

Desperation, both his own, and not his own, ripped through his thoughts. She had every intention of killing him. He could hear R2s electronic shrieks but he was unable to move as well.

_Galena._

The crushing continued. He could feel his heart rate stutter and his chest ache. It was all he could do to push against her. How was she getting past the force block? Had she learned how to use the force here in spite of the force block? Had she tapped into the power from the white stone?

The stone vibrated. He gripped it tight and tried to tap into it too.

_Galena._

He sensed bitter hatred behind her attack but not for him. Her desperation and a sense of victory spurred her on. Luke’s composure shattered as she burrowed into his mind. Luke knew he would die before he got through to her. All he could do was to bring thoughts to mind that she could see for herself. He thought of Rey, extending the lightsabre to him, training, wounded in the falcon, holding and kissing Ben.

That last image got her. It was unexpected. Snoke would never show her any kind of image like that, not of his apprentice.

The crushing backed off just a little. He could finally catch a breath. Tears were running down his face. Through his gasps for breath he croaked out her name.

“Galena.”

A sharp intake of breath. She retreated. Luke opened his eyes to a dull grey ceiling as he continued to suck in greedy lung fulls of air. A face came into focus. So full of pain and rage and anguish. How long had she been here? Almost ten years.

A spark of light flickered in her eyes. Luke pushed himself up to a sitting position. She just stared at him first, her mouth open. She was older, her softness gone. She wore grey prison type clothes and she looked as though she had sufficient nutrition but only just. Luke could tell much of her former strength and person had been maintained over long years through her own sense of purpose and will.

How she had done it in this force blocked place he didn’t know but she had. Somehow, even here she had been able to use the force.

Once more his heart was in danger. This time though there was no-one between them.

Luke gently pushed aside his thoughts for another time. She shuffled closer to him on her hands and knees then sat back on her heels. Her whisper was filled with a raw, aching throb that wounded his heart. He wanted to reach and comfort her but knew that would be a mistake.

“Is it true? Is she alive?”

“Yes.”

A sob and Luke was nearly knocked backwards again but this time he was wrapped in her embrace as sobs began to wrack her body. He closed his eyes and pulled her close and held her for a few moments. Something inside him warmed but he had no time to let it grow. He put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back. Her face, like dawn breaking across a dark abyss of misery, took his breath away for a moment but he pushed on.

“She needs our help, Galena.”

Darkness filled her eyes and Luke trembled to feel her rage grow. The same rage he’d felt in Rey.

“What has he done to her?”

Luke knew who she meant.

“Snoke is dead.”

Pain, anguish and bitterness mixed with relief, regret and disbelief all washed across her face.

“Koril is dead too, isn’t he.”

“Yes.” A satisfied smile settled on her lips that left him uncomfortable. It gave weight to his suspicions that Koril had always wanted to get rid of Galena. But that wasn’t all.

“So is Eli.” This caused her some consternation.

“Oh. I’m sorry. He had some potential.” She looked up at him. “And Gem. What of her.”

“She turned to the dark side. She’s been getting stronger, using Snoke's power somehow. But there’s the problem. Rey and Gem have become enemies. Rey has been taken over by the essence of Snoke’s power when he died. Now Rey is determined to kill Gem. If we don’t stop her she will become just like Snoke.”

Galena’s mouth dropped open. Her voice a cold whisper of horror.

“No.” She wrapped her arms about herself and shuddered. A pulse of anger electrified the air before it ebbed away. Galena looked up at him, her eyes dark with wrath.

“There’s much you need to tell me.”

Luke nodded knowing he would have to tell her everything. As always the story would make him ache but he wouldn’t make the mistake of leaving anything out. This was too important.

But right now they needed to go.

“We can talk on the way.”

 

 

Rey’s anger had turned from blazing hot to ice cold. Everything about her was cold and dark. It sharpened and focussed everything. Things that before were hidden or muffled were now strong and sharp and clear, now that she had put her foolish weaknesses aside. Her power was now above all her expectations. She was contemptuous of her previous fumbling efforts in the force, muddied as they were by silly notions and desires.

She had no time for her own desires. They were immaterial. She must keep going. She must finish what he started. She needed what Gem had. She would not allow her to mess with Finn either. If anyone was going to teach him about the force it would be her.

She was coming up on Tyrad. Why would Gem want to go back there? Had something been left behind. She blocked the thought of Solia from her mind and concentrated on the present. She must not fail. The moment they were out of hyperspace she would remove her sister as a threat and take what she needed.

Her mind drummed again. Ben. He was trying to get in. She mustn’t let him. He was her weakness. She would not be able to complete her task if she let him in.

Rey was a little sad for what might have been with Ben but it was of no consequence. She must find a way and that was all. Everything depended on it.

Coming out of hyperspace was always breathtaking but she gave it none of her attention. What was interesting was the Finalizer hanging in space above the darkened planet. The sun glinted off the dark hull of the monolithic structure. Something flashed behind her eyes. Ben’s lightsabre was in her hand.  Death. Pain tore through her chest, deep down, steeling her breath. She’d seen that vision before. It seemed like an aeon ago but it was sharp and clear and she would die, one way or another.

Rey snarled. She would not die. She would not be denied her place in the galaxy or her power in the force. She would not be seduced by the light. She would make her own pathway. The force would bend to her will.

If he had to die to ensure her future then she knew what she would do. She breathed in and pulled the force to her and it came, creeping and possessive, to give her power.

Now, she must concentrate on the present. She felt Ben already nearby. His presence was fiery and dark, Kylo Ren. She smiled. Him she could work with.

Rey located her sister’s ship on the other side of the Finalizer, coming in from above. Rey focussed on her. Yes, she knew they were all here. She could feel Finn, she was twisting him, pushing him hard. She would pay for that. As she would pay for what she had done to Rey.

The Finalizer did nothing as three apparent Resistance ships approached it. Oddly, for a ship of that size and crew she could feel very little life on board.

She flicked switches and intercepted a hail from the Gem’s ship to the Finalizer.

There was no response.

Instead a dark winged shuttle launched from the Finalizer. Rey knew that ship. She could feel the recognition echoed by Ben and Gem. Someone was leaving on Kylo Ren’s Command Shuttle.

Gem fired on the command shuttle, temporarily disabling it. Yes, her sister wouldn’t want to lose that.

The Falcon fired on Gem in the General’s ship. Rey hissed and sent a shot back at the Falcon. She opened her mind to Ben for just a moment and snarled for him to stay out of it then clamped it shut again.

So far the only shots fired had been from the three small Resistance craft. Rey looked at the Finalizer. What was going on?

Something wasn’t right. Rey could feel it. They could all feel it.

An all craft hail came through, a coded message. Rey’s mouth dropped open and she immediately moved the X-wing away from the Finalizer.

The Finalizer was rigged to self-destruct. There were still many minutes to go but a scan of the area showed its crew had abandoned ship. Escape pods and shuttles were descending to the planet below. A pity the First Order had already erased all life and help from the planet they now sought safety on.

Gem knew the Finalizer was rigged for self-destruct and yet she made a direct run for the hangar the command shuttle had come from. Rey immediately went to follow her. Revenge, determination to get Finn back, the need to stop Gem from getting to her mother, those objectives all paled into irrelevance for now. Gem had a purpose in mind and Rey needed to know. She pushed at her sister’s mind. Gem pushed back with that cold prickling attack and Rey backed off. She did get one impression though. There was something on the Finalizer that must be saved.

Rey could feel Ben on the Falcon follow her in as she followed her sister. The fool, he was going to get himself killed. So be it. She had her own path now.

The hangar was empty as they flew in. There were red lights flashing everywhere and the calm steady recorded voice of a woman across the ship wide speakers stating that the ship would self-destruct in ten minutes and twenty seconds.

Gem was already running from the exit of the General’s shuttle when Rey landed. Rey leapt from the X-wing, ordering BB-8 to stay there. There was a blast of air as the Falcon also entered the hangar and landed. Rey ignored everything but her sister. She was faster than Gem and had almost caught her up when Gem turned and sent a wave of the force at her. Rey braced and pushed it back. Gem tumbled back but turned to run again, diving into a lift and overriding the automatic doors with the force to slam them shut before Rey could reach them.

Rey simply got the next lift and traced her sister’s signature in the force. She placed a hand on the internal console and directed the lift to follow. Rey emerged at what she remembered was the bridge. She stalked out, looking about at the deck. She smiled. There were still a few lightsabre scars visible. Mementos of her previous activities here.

“Turn it off old man,” Gem screamed. “You have the over-riding codes. Turn it off.”

Rey had intended to confront her sister but the self-destruct took priority. Rey turned to a console and focussed. It was not a simple thing to find the correct pathway. She put up her shields so Gem could not feel what she was doing.

Rey heard a voice croak in reply to Gem’s demands. “You should not be here.”

“You know why I’m here.”

“You will never get the kyber crystals out in time.”

That was interesting. Yes, she would need those if it was to be done.

“Commandant, I know you ensured this ship had a master code known only to you. Enter it.”

There was a dry husk of a laugh followed by a hacking cough.

“My son has decided I must die and so I am here alone to go down with my ship. I suggest you get off.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about old man but you better stop this thing or…”

“Or what? You’ll kill me.” The raspy laugh mocked her sister’s desperation.

Rey was only half following the words to and fro but a master code would not be easy to dig out, and she didn’t have the time. She abandoned that strategy and focussed on the one she knew would work. Star destroyers all had a basic design similarity. The Empire ships and the First Order ships still used the same system when it came to the structure of self-destruct mechanisms. It didn’t matter how complicated the code pathways were, it was still a basic switch and ignition system. The problem was there were a dozen or more switch and ignition locations and because of all the code pathways she didn’t know which one would start the cascade.

“My son’s back-up solution has taken care of everything. Nothing can stop this now.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“The Twi’lek. One black code and it’s all gone. Scrambled. We’re not locked out. We’re dead already.”

Rey ignored the mashed codes in the system. It was the physical locality of the explosions that would count. This new power flowing through her would guide her and give her the ability to take action from where she was.

The lift doors swept open and she felt Ben step out. Yes, he had some of the dark rage of Kylo Ren simmering underneath but even now she could tell it was still Ben who was still in control. She knew that would never change. There was a master and servant in the one man and it was how it would always be. She intensified her force shields around her even as she felt him reach out to her.

Rey quashed the little trickle of sorrow in her heart when she felt Ben pull away from her. It seemed he had the same idea as Gem did. A few taps of the nearest console to enter his own codes followed by some creative curses she’d never actually heard before and Rey knew she needed to keep going.

Ben reached across the bond again and butted against her shields. They were impenetrable.

“Rey. We have to get out of here.” She pushed him back. She found the first switch. She disabled it. She continued searching. She opened her mind to Ben for just a moment to let him know what she was doing. She felt a responding nudge.

_Let me help you._

She was tempted for a moment. He was her heart but she knew if she did let him in she would succumb to her weakness. She slammed her shields back up and ignored the flash of agony that came from him before it was gone behind the muffling power of her shields.

“What are you doing here,” Gem demanded. Ben ignored her. It bugged Rey for a moment that she couldn’t call him Kylo Ren. That was what she should call him. Gem and Ben faced off. It was clear Ben was stronger. Rey ignored them. She found a second switch and disabled it.

The woman’s voice informed them there were seven minutes to go before self-destruct.

The old man turned in his seat and laughed. “And here I was thinking I would die alone.” A cough crackled in his throat but he kept speaking. Rey didn’t really look but she got the impression of faded red hair, a thick body and heavy jowls. “Does Snoke know you’ve come back?”

“Snoke is dead,” Ben said.

Rey could feel the old man’s shock followed by a spike of anger, joined soon after by bitterness and regret. He scowled and wandered towards the view screen. A laugh and a cough. Rey heard him muttering to himself. “All for nothing.” Whatever pathetic dreams he’d had didn’t matter. Rey would ensure her task was done.

The lift opened again and Phasma emerged.

“What’s going on? We need to leave.” Rey felt Phasma’s gaze turn to her. “What’s she doing?” Ben shook his head.

“Leave her. Did you get Finn and 3PO?”

“Now that I’ve switched 3PO back on he’s helping Sanjo take care of Finn. He’s in the Falcon med bay. Chewie and Poe are bringing your command shuttle in with the tractor beam. Hux, Mitaka and Imri are on board. We’ll take Imri. The other two can do what they like.”

“Not with my ship they can’t,” Ben muttered. He found a comm unit and sent an order down to Poe to get everyone on the Falcon and get off the Finalizer. Rey suppressed a smirk. If they needed to get to a ship Ben would prefer his own command shuttle.

Rey was pleased that Finn was safe but that didn’t reduce her determination to make Gem pay for what she’d done. She found another switch and disabled it. The voice announced there were five minutes to go.

“We need to get out of here,” Phasma said.

“No-one’s going anywhere,” Gem growled. She turned and her fingers flew across the console. Rey heard the locks clamp down.

“This ship is not going down,” Gem snarled. “Bring your Twi'lek up here and disable the codes.”

Rey didn’t want to take the time to reverse Gem’s door lock command. She’d found another switch. They were coming faster now. Something else was becoming obvious though. She was never going to find them all before she ran out of time. Each device was placed in a strategic location but some were more strategic than others. She changed her tactic. Focus on disabling those that would rip the ship apart and send them all to their deaths and leave those that would result in disablement only. She might just make it.

“Rey.” It was her sister. Her voice was uncertain, as though she didn’t know how to approach her or had only just realised there was something different about her. Rey ignored her but ensured her shields were strong. She couldn’t let herself be distracted.

“Leave her. If she can disable enough of the self-destruct devices we might just make it.”

A surge of anger twisted with fear came from Gem.

“No. There must be no damage.”

She sent a message to Ben.

_The kyber crystals will not be damaged._

Before he could relay the message a blaster bolt smashed into the console she was using to identify switches. Commandant Hux screamed.

“No. This ship is going to blow. All of us, we’re going to die. No one escapes. It’s all been for nothing and someone has to pay.”

Gem spun about and embedded her lightsabre in Brendol Hux’ chest. Surprise immobilised his face for a moment then a slow maniacal smile took its place. His eyes grew fiery and he forced his last words out through a gurgling throat.

“We die together…my son.”

Rey watched the old man fall away from her sister’s sabre with an absence of feeling but an angry curse came from Phasma as she launched at Gem. It appeared the former Storm trooper captain still had some kind of attachment to the old man and intended to battle it out with her sister. Ben grabbed Phasma and used the force to wrestle her back, a wise move as Gem would lose no sleep over inserting her sabre into one of the weak spots in Phasma’s armor. This was something Rey realised she just _knew_. Rey felt her new knowledge like a deep well. There were a great many things she now understood and it gave her power.

One thing she didn’t understand though was her possessive streak when it came to Ben. He had his arms around Phasma while she struggled and Rey didn’t like it. It was that weakness again warring against her better judgement. She pushed it away. It was not important, in spite of what was nagging at the back of her mind.

Rey turned back to the console. She still had work to do. She moved to another console and began again. She placed all her effort into finding switches and detonators in the most vulnerable places, all the while looking for the master switch that would set it all off.

For a moment she thought she’d found it. Maybe it was but she never got the chance to deactivate it.

It began in the rear, near the engines. The ship rocked and alarms screamed. She could feel decks blowing out but then the cascade of explosions began to slow. She watched the progress on the screen. The ship rocked but the stabilisers remained. The hyper drive engine was disabled but it didn’t blow. Sub light engines were damaged beyond immediate use but not repair. Lower decks and upper decks were less affected than the empty crew decks.

With growing relief she knew the ship would survive mostly intact. There was a problem though. Rey could feel it. Phasma, in control of herself again, was the one to state it.

“We’re adrift. We’ll get sucked into the planet’s gravity.” 

“Not for a while yet,” Rey snarled. There was no way she was going to wait for the ship to crash before she took her sister down. She dropped the physical force shields she had put up and ignited her lightsabre.

Gem turned to her and ignited her sabre as well. Rey could feel her sister’s fear and how she drew on it. Rey burned with anger and felt her power grow to something insatiably dark and potent but she knew fear was as powerful as anger. She would not underestimate her sister.

A third lightsabre ignited. Rey snarled.

“Ben, stay out of this.”

Rey wanted to slash at him to make her point when he moved between them.

“I won’t let you kill like this Rey. This is not you.”

“There’s always been dark in me. You know that.”

“Not this dark. This is Snoke, what’s left of him. It was never meant to happen. The last of his essence was never meant to go to you.”

Rey glared at him.

“Then who? You. Her. I won’t let you stop me.”

“I know Gem has hurt you but this will only lead to more pain and sadness. Let it go.”

Rey should have known he would try and weaken her resolve.

“Stay away from me Ben. My sister has what I need and I intend to take it.”

Ben’s eyes narrowed.

“What do you need, Rey,” he said.

Rey grew impatient.

“Get out of my way Ben.”

He didn’t move at first. He took a step towards her, his eyes imploring her. Rey drew on the force and let her power expand out to him to make him understand. He stopped, his eyes sad as he looked into hers. Rey felt the pull of her former… _regard_ for him. It had been growing stronger and deeper but it didn’t matter now.

“I won’t fall for you again Ben. I will take what I need and then I will finish what he started.”

Ben’s face grew pale. Rey felt an odd sensation, as though she were somehow standing beside herself while someone else lived her life and delivered her lines. She pushed it away. She needed the kyber crystals and she needed what Gem had. She could see it in her mind.

A black cube.


	42. Chapter 42

Poe had made sure everyone in the hangar was evacuated from the Finalizer. He’d taken his X-wing out with BB-8. Imri and Chewie had flown the Falcon out with Sanjo, Finn, 3PO, Hux and Mitaka. He’d sent a message through to the General. They’d found the Finalizer and they needed reinforcements. The ship was damaged and adrift due to a sabotage attempt and was slowly drifting into Tyrad’s gravitational pull. He estimated that in about one and half to two days it would crash on the surface of Tyrad.  

A message had come back as though someone was sitting by the comm station waiting for him to call. Although it probably wasn’t Poe a certain person was waiting to hear from. The General was sending reinforcements, including a solution to the problem of keeping the Finalizer out of the gravity well until repairs could be made.

The channel was interrupted by static as Imri cut in.

“Poe. General Hux is demanding that he be allowed to return to the Finalizer to organise the reestablishment of crew from the surface back to the Finalizer. He seems to think they can fix the damage and keep it from falling into the planet.”

A dry laugh escaped his lips. He suspected a bid for freedom by Hux rather than an altruistic desire to help his fellow people.

“You can tell Hux I have alerted General Organa of the situation and they are sending reinforcements as well as a two Hammerhead Corvettes to push it away from the planet.”

He thought he heard Hux start to complain about further damage to his ship but Imri cut him off.

“I think we do need to get the crew back on board Poe, and inform them of their _surrender_.”

He agreed. The Finalizer would need its crew and he didn’t want any nasty accusations about leaving people to die on Tyrad.

“We can head back to the Finalizer and start appraising the damage but I want Hux and Mitaka kept under guard. We’ll call the crew back once reinforcements have arrived.”

Poe took his X-wing back in and landed in the Finalizer main hangar. Imri followed him in. In the tense moments before when they’d pulled the command shuttle back in and then scrambled to get off the Finalizer again in light of the self-destruct countdown, he’d barely had a moment with Imri. And an awkward moment it had been. He’d wanted to hold her but she’d held back and then the moment had passed and they were running again.

He jumped down from his X-wing as BB-8 lowered himself back to the floor and rolled in behind him like he wasn’t sure it was safe.

Sanjo and Finn were first off the Falcon and Poe was glad to see Finn was already looking better. Whatever good natured threats Phasma had whispered in his ear before rushing off after Ren had pulled him out of the daze he was in.

Poe stifled a grin as he watched Hux and Mitaka march down the Falcon’s ramp, cuffed and flanked by Chewie with his bow caster and Imri carrying (he shook his head, where did she find these things) another large blaster.

Poe decided he liked watching her ‘take charge’ of a situation. Her eyes flicked to him and she smiled awkwardly. He smiled back. He’d find her later and get to the bottom of this awkwardness between them. Was it Hux that made her hold back or was it something else?

3PO was out last, waddling up to where Poe stood.

“Well, I’m glad that’s over.” BB-8 rolled around to 3PO and beeped a query. “Oh she was quite terrifying. I’m just glad I was switched off for most of it.”

“I must say though,” 3PO continued. “I don’t remember the Falcon having sustained so much internal damage. The passageway has been positively trashed.”

Hux and Mitaka looked at each other and smirked. Poe refused to make comment.

Poe turned as the sound of a lift door opening reached them. Phasma stepped out.

“Just who I need. I want these two kept under guard until our reinforcements arrive,” Poe said.

Phasma ignored him. She was looking at Hux. Was this going to get difficult?

Phasma had no violent intentions. Instead she stopped before Hux and put a hand on his shoulder. This was odd. Except he could have sworn the pale faced First Order general just got paler.

“He’s dead,” she said. Hux bottom jaw trembled and he swallowed.

“He’s in the medbay when you’re ready.”

Hux nodded as he struggled to suppress his emotions. His voice cracked when he spoke. “Was it the explosions?”

 Phasma’s face turned hard. “No. Sabira Ren.”

Hux stiffened. The sadness in his face hardened as the two former colleagues stared at each other.

“Thank you,” was his soft reply. Poe shivered. Whoever was dead, it seemed that Rey’s sister had just gained an enemy.

Poe didn’t have time to ponder the brief exchange. An alarm went off on a nearby console. He stepped over to it to assess the problem.

“There’s an enemy ship coming in,” Mitaka said. Poe looked up.

“You mean a Republic ship.”

Mitaka coughed. “I mean it’s not First Order.”

Poe looked for a comm switch. Mitaka stepped up and flicked the appropriate switch. Poe looked at him for a moment. Mitaka stepped back and muttered an apology. Poe grinned and turned back to the comm.

“Incoming vessel, identify yourself.”

There was some static and then a moment of silence before a query came through.

“Poe Dameron.”

Poe smiled as he recognised the voice.

“Master Skywalker. Where did you get to? He said.

“Oh, just getting some reinforcements.” Poe frowned. With just the one ship he couldn’t see what sort of reinforcements the Jedi master would have brought with him. He was intrigued of course.

“Please come aboard,” he replied.

It wasn’t long before the tandem X-wing was settled on the hangar floor and Luke was stepping down. Mitaka stepped back towards Hux, a wary look on his face. Poe guessed he was one of those who had a fear of Jedi. But then he had worked with Kylo Ren. Maybe it was just force users in general.

When Luke reached up to help someone else down Poe peered closer. A woman who seemed familiar and yet…Hux gasped nearby. Poe looked at him but Hux stood straight and gave nothing away. Luke guided the woman towards where they stood, Poe still thinking she looked familiar.

“We’re looking for Rey,” Luke said. The woman looked at Hux, who looked away.

Phasma spoke up. “She’s on the Command deck. She needs your help fast,” she said. Luke and his companion nodded and strode off towards the lifts.

“Who was that?” Poe said to Hux. Everyone else also looked at Hux.

“A former apprentice of Snoke’s,” Hux said. “She’s supposed to be dead.”

“Oh, Rey’s mother is definitely not dead,” Imri said.

They were interrupted by another alarm indicating an approaching ship. Poe scanned the view screen on the console. It was too early for the reinforcements to be here. Who was it now?

 

 

Ben took a step towards Rey. The warmth of his force presence unnerved her and she backed away. It was an odd feeling she couldn’t place. Something was wrong. She knew what she had to do but if she stopped and listened carefully she could hear the gentle words in her mind.

_Come back._

Rey shook her head. Was he calling to her? Something was wrong with…

Ben took another step towards her.

“Why Rey? Why do you need to finish it? What’s it to you what he started?”

Rey hissed her derision. “I think you know.”

_Do you know?_

She shook her head again. Of course she did.

“There’s always something that needs to be finished Rey. It’ll drive you to depths you never wanted to go if you let it.”

A dark shadow loomed inside her that left her panicked for a moment. That pressured feeling. Something would break inside her if she wasn’t careful.

“Stay away Ben. My sister will not get away with what she’s done and when I’m finished with her I will finish with you too. No one will stand in my way.”

Ben looked hurt and it bothered her. Why? It shouldn’t bother her. Should it? He was weakness. He’d turned away from what he’d started. It was up to her now. Wasn’t it?

She grew impatient. She could have sworn she felt Kylo Ren before. He would have been the right companion for her. But now he was gone and Ben was here instead. He was undoing her. She had to stay strong.

Gentle words of regret floated through her mind. _Come back._ Where did they come from? She breathed in and pushed them down but even as she did the sense that something was wrong grew stronger.

Ben stepped forward again, his dark eyes holding hers. Something compelled her to keep her eyes on him.

“Rey. This is not you. This is Snoke in you.” Rey raised her lightsabre higher, threatening as Ben continued, glaring at the hand he reached towards her. “It’s a trap Rey, and it’s going to tear you apart.”

Rey could hear the desperation in Ben’s words. She would have laughed at it if those gentle words had not whispered in her mind again. _Come back._

She stopped.

Something was wrong with…

Rey noticed her sister edging backwards. Rey snarled and threw up her hand, pushing Ben aside with a force thrust. He stumbled back and she slipped past him. Gem turned and sprinted away. Rey ignored Ben’s grunt of pain and chased after her sister.

It didn’t take her long to catch Gem. One force push and her sister stumbled. Rey could feel Gem pull the force to her as she rolled and sprang to her feet again. She came up in a defensive stance with her sabre and without hesitation Rey leapt into a merciless attack that would demolish her sister’s defences.

A red lightsabre got in the way. Rey whirled on Ben, bringing her lightsabre up in a vicious arc aiming to disarm him. He was quick to retreat out of harm’s way but just as quick to snap back behind her guard and bat her sabre down.

“No,” she snapped and planted her feet apart, holding her ground. She pulled on the force, its raging light and dark and aimed it at Ben. He rolled away, pulling the force around him but she still caught him a hard sideways blow. He flew back across the floor and into the wall. He lay there unmoving. She squeezed her eyes shut.

Something was wrong. Something hurt inside her. Something was wrong with…

FINISH IT.

Rey turned back to her fight with Gem but she was on the run again.

“Help me Kylo Ren,” Gem screamed. Rey laughed.

“It’s just us now. He can’t save you,” Rey snarled.

A gentle touch on the back of her hand.

_Come back._

Rey’s steps faltered. It was just an inflection in the voice that caused a memory from long ago to rise up.

_Come back._

“Rey. Come back.” Ben’s words calling to her was a strange echo of the words echoing in her head.

_Come back._

Soft and gentle words calling to her. She was hurting inside.

Dark panic seized her.

  1. She had to finish what she started.



Didn’t she?

The shadow inside her loomed up again and this time darkness squeezed at that fragile thing inside her. She pulled away, her panic deepening.

Something was wrong with…

She looked up. Ben had pulled himself to his feet, his eyes finding hers again. He loved her. Her hand on her lightsabre trembled and she nearly gave in.

WEAKNESS. FOOLISH WEAKNESS.

Yes, he was her weakness. She must be careful. She did _not_ want to be left behind again.

If she finished what he started then they would come back. She would not be alone.

She sprinted after Gem and caught her before she was able to dive into a stairwell.

Gem raised her sabre in a defensive arc but Rey brought her sabre down in a vicious strike, catching it and beating it down. Gem screamed but just managed to hold Rey’s sabre away from her with her own. Rey looked into her sister’s eyes and was gratified to see the fear there.

Something fragile within her trembled.

Something was wrong with…

“Please Rey. I’m sorry. I know I hurt you. I was jealous but…”

“They’re all dead because of you.”

“No. Rey, please. Your mother. She’s alive. I can take you to her.”

Rey’s anger grew dark and ugly. “You’ve known all this time.”

“No Rey. It was Snoke. He keeps her in a prison. But now he’s dead she can be freed.”

Rey’s mind whirled. Something was at war inside her. Memories that conflicted with other memories.

“It’s true Rey. Your mother didn’t die in the war. Father wanted her gone but he couldn’t kill her so he made a deal with Snoke.”

Rey began to shake.

“I saw her die.”

“No Rey. That was just another one of Snoke’s false memories.”

Rey looked at her sister and felt fear and hate. Why? She reached into her sister’s mind. The prickling defence repelled her but this time Rey ignored the pain and speared down into her sister’s mind, obliterating all of Gem’s defences.

It was not what she expected to see.

A woman lay on the floor, her face pale, her lips blue and her eyes lifeless. A little girl cried and screamed.

“Mother. Wake up.” This was Gem and her mother.

“She’s gone child. We can’t save her. She was in the water too long.” Gems thoughts grew loud in her mind.

_He’s put another woman in my mother’s place. I will not forget her. I will not forget my mother. It was the new woman’s fault. My father wanted to get rid of my mother and now this new woman thinks she can take her place. My father let this woman take my mother’s place and now he expected her to accept this new screaming thing as her sister._

An old face and a twisted smile leaned down towards her. _He could put it right if she would do one thing for him. They had taken away her mother so now they would be taken away too._

Rey looked down at her sister. Something squeezed inside her. Something fragile but enduring. Her sister had suffered painful loss as well.

SHE TOOK YOUR MOTHER AWAY IN REVENGE FOR HER OWN.

Rey hardened her heart. Whatever had happened to Gem’s mother, it did not justify her own mother’s loss and suffering.

“It was you. You made the deal with Snoke.” A spark of rage lit her sister’s eyes

“My mother was a beautiful person who didn’t deserve what she got. You all deserved to die.”

A stinging attack from Gem through the force took Rey off guard, pushing her back a step. Gem leapt to her feet and speared her sabre towards Rey’s heart. Rey dodged and swept the attack aside with her own. Rey could feel her sister drawing on a dark pool of the force to get behind her guard. Rey could see her tactic though and used it against her, letting Gem open herself up to her own vicious strike.

Gem stumbled back, a smoking slash across her chest. The fear and uncertainty in her eyes gnawed at Rey but she pushed away whatever compassion she had. She didn’t need that now. She had her purpose. Gem must die and then she must finish…

A ripple in the force caught Rey’s attention. Something familiar and something not familiar.

Luke was here.

Rey frowned. Where had he been?

There was something else. Something she had felt before but could not define. Whatever it was it strengthened that which was so fragile inside her. And yet. Still…

Something was wrong with…

A dark shadow loomed up inside her and fear, strange and cold, obliterated all thoughts but to end her sister’s life.

_FINISH WHAT I STARTED_.

Something else pulled at Rey. Something soft, gentle and more powerful than she might have thought.

The force bond with Ben. Even the bond with Luke. And there was something else.

Rey grit her teeth as the pressure rose within her. She could not bear being torn apart like this. She must end all bonds. Starting with Ben. But first...

Rey gathered the force to her and systematically destroyed Gem’s attack and defence, leaving her sister cowering on the floor. Rey felt powerful, the darkness coursing through her.

“Rey no. I’ll give you what you want. Please. Don’t kill me.”

Rey raised her sabre ready to strike a death blow for the second time.

Gem reached into her jacket and pulled out an object. She extended her hand in which she held a black cube. Rey smiled. That was what she needed. Rey snarled and prepared to bring her sabre down.

“Rey.” _Rey._

Rey froze. Ben’s voice behind her again mingled with another voice that she almost recognised. A voice that caused her heart to squeeze.

Gem threw the cube and scrambled away. Rey caught the cube with the force.

“Rey, let her go.” Ben’s tender, pleading voice gently pulling at her heart. So tempting. Why was she so weak? Rey tried to fight the pull of the bond but it would not be ignored. She tried to find the bond and shut it down but its tendrils slipped past her and refastened themselves, as though it were a living thing that grew and clung to her very essence.

Ben was close now and the temptation of the bond grew stronger, it’s sweet and gentle promise. His words were soft and insistent as he stood behind her.

“I won’t let you go, Rey. Ever since you smashed into my head on Starkiller base Rey I have been reaching for you. I won’t let you go.”

It was Ben. He was doing this. He was stopping her.

There was something else. Ben’s radiant presence in the force, that bright pure light that was growing stronger every moment, obscured it.

Rey was being pulled in so many ways. Her mind whirled and her body shuddered. It would be so easy to reach out to Ben, to let him help her. She shook her head.

Something was wrong with…

The dark kept pushing at her, like a monster at her heels, demanding she remove every obstacle in her way and finish what he’d started. She covered her ears with her hands as though she could shut out the conflicting voices and demands.

That thing inside her that kept building, threatening to shatter.

Ben, beckoning to her like a tenuous dream that could come true if she would just believe it. If she’d just let go.

Panic reached up to claim her. Dreams were shadows. Reality was being left behind. She was alone. She could not trust anyone.

And yet there was that beguiling something behind it all that she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

_Come back._

It was all too much. She pulled on the force, digging deep, demanding, and letting her bitterness and anger empower her. The force, cold, dark and uncompromising, built within her. She would use it as it was meant to be used.

“Rey, No!” Ben’s voice was soft and so seductive. He drew closer to her, taking her hand. She turned to him. The feel of her hand in his caused a deep longing within her that pulled her to him like she was a feather caught in a whirlwind, dragging her in to him.

“Don’t let it win, Rey.”

Rey noticed that he held something in his other hand. That darkness in her loomed up.

“What is that,” she demanded. Ben looked into her eyes, pleading. He held up a green stone ring. She recognised it immediately. Sanjo’s force block ring.

A cold shiver ran through her that sparked an icy wrath. She ripped her hand out of his.

“You would trap me.”

Ben’s face looked pained. “Rey, I would do anything to keep you from this path you’re on. I’ve walked it and its only pain and loss.”

Rey shook her head, infusing their bond with hostility. She couldn’t accept what he was saying. “You were going to stop me Ben. You were going to trap me.”

He tried to reach for her and she stepped back afraid of what his touch would do to her. Surely she hated him. He was going to trap her. She flexed the fingers of her hands, one about her lightsabre and one about the black cube.

“You’re already trapped Rey. This thing you have to finish, it’s not of your choosing. Rey it’s the last of Snoke’s essence driving you. Please. Come back.”

Rey shuddered, her mind in a whirl of conflicting thoughts of hatred, desire, compassion and vengeance. Her heart was racing and her body trembling. She needed to get herself under control.

“Rey, put the ring on yourself. Let your mind clear of the force and listen to what you want. Not what this shadow from Snoke wants.”

What he said made sense but her fears were too strong. The pull on her heart was too much. It was tearing her apart. She needed it to stop. She let the force build, ready to strike her sister down, to tear down everything, to get rid of everything tearing her apart.

“Rey, I love you. I can’t bear the thought of losing you but I would die for you if I could save you.” His words held no pleading, just a statement of fact. The shields she held up against him shivered. If she didn’t do something she would open herself completely to the bond again and all would be lost. She had to end this. The pressure inside her was going to rip her apart before she could go any further if she didn’t do something.

Something was wrong with…

_Come back._

It was too late. With deadly purpose she struck out. Bolts of dark force exploded from her. They overtook her. She released all the pent up darkness within her. Rey was blind to where or whom the dark force energy struck.

So consumed by the release of the force she did not see Ben move. One moment towering over her, taking the full force of the lightning as she struck out and then he was flying spinning across the floor again until he came to a stop. Unmoving, silent, pale, lightning arcing about his body before it ebbed away into the floor beneath him.

When it was over Rey bowed her head in relief. Now her mind was clear. She lifted her head and looked about her.

Rey froze.

Ben was gone. She couldn’t feel him. A chocking sense of loss gripped her. It was broken. Her knees buckled. That fragile thing. It was broken. Their bond. It was broken. Her hand covered the ripping pain in her chest. She was broken. She could feel the bond shattering, imploding within her. She sucked in shuddering breathes as she tried to remain untouched by the cold void replacing the heat of the bond.

Gem was gone. She didn’t care.

All she could think of was Ben.

Where was Ben? She reached out past her pain and searched for him. He lay on the floor a small distance away. Eyes closed. The scar on his face stark and accusing. She stumbled towards him, legs unable to hold her, forcing her to the floor beside him. She reached a hand out to touch his face and it felt cold.

This was wrong. She should have trusted him. She had turned on him. Why?

FINISH…

NOOOO.

_Rey, come back._

Something was wrong with…

….her.

Pain, excruciating and inescapable bloomed in the place where the bond with Ben had been. It savaged her gut and choked her breath. More than that her mind screamed her loss. She had been deceived by the darkness. She would rather die than live without him.

YOU KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO.

Rey went still. Something foreign to her harnessed the pain, forcing her to keep going. She gave herself over to it. She no longer had any other purpose, any other hope. She touched Ben’s face then with a cold hand Rey lifted the cube and looked at it. She needed one more thing. She got up and returned to the central command station.

YES.

She entered a command buried deep in her mind. It was a few moments before the secret compartment rose up and opened to reveal a black kyber crystal. One of many he’d kept just in case the end had come unexpected.

Rey picked it up and looked at it. This would take away her pain.

YES. NOW.

NO.

One more thing. Rey would do this her own way.

She returned to where Ben lay lifeless on the floor and knelt beside him. She wanted to be next to him when she did this. She touched his face again, smoothing her fingertip along the scar. She ignored the rising panic of dark inside her. It had no power now that the pain of loss had seized her.

Her heart squeezed and a sob tore its way from her throat. “I love you,” she whispered.

Rey looked down at the cube. In a daze she held it up, her hands shaking and her gaze blurred with tears. She focussed all her pain on the cube. The edges of the cube glowed white then began to separate. Rey harnessed the force and used it to guide the crystal perfectly into the midst of the faces of the cube. The cube glowed brighter. From one side it looked red, from the other it was white.

Rey felt it. Life was flowing out of her. Her shoulders sagged. Her life, the force, all of it was flowing out of her and when it was done she would be dead. She didn’t care. She would be free of this pain.

She held the cube in her hand as she lay down on the floor next to Ben. She took his hand with her other hand as she felt the last of her life force leave. The last thing she felt before she closed her eyes was that there was still so much pain. The voice had lied. She would die and still know the horror of her loss. She would be tied to its pain for as long as she knew herself. Even as her breath stopped and she felt cold. There was still pain. Was this what it was like for Ben after…she searched for him and couldn’t find him and her pain raged all the more. She was unaware of anything but the pain of her loss and the darkness of her life leaving her forever. She curled in on herself, trapped in a cage of loss. She went to the one place that was familiar to this kind of feeling.  

 

 

Ben was in the force again. He could feel its light and dark like a whirlwind that raged through him. Strong arms held him, keeping him in the light, keeping him from being swept into the darkness of death. He knew he couldn’t die while she lived in the dark like this. He had to get back. Yet the pain of his failure twisted inside him. He’d failed her. He would do anything for Rey. He would give up his life for her. His grandfather understood that.

He had to go back.

“Ben, you understand why I had to bring you here,” his grandfather said. Ben shook his head.

“If I lose both of you to this the balance will be lost forever.” Ben nodded.

“Don’t be afraid. It will be put right,” his grandfather whispered and then he was waking up.

He looked for Rey and found her next to him. He was glad for a moment that she was still there but then he knew. Something was horribly wrong. She was gone. He reached for her with shaking hands.

“No.” This was not right. He’d stopped her from the fatal mistake of killing her sister. He stared down at her sweet face as tears stung his eyes. His grandfather said it would be put right. How can it be put right if she was… This can’t be right. A sob caught in his chest, tearing him apart like nothing else ever had.

“Rey, come back. Please. Come back.” He slid a shaking hand under her neck and cupped the back of her head, his fingers tangling in her hair. He stared down at her beautiful face in disbelief. It wasn’t true. He needed to see the hazel depths of her eyes. He tried to reach out to her in the force but there was nothing. He slid his other hand beneath her shoulder and pulled her into his arms, a limp doll, her form precious to him. How could this be put right? Something broke inside him that only she could ever mend.

A black cube clattered from her hand out onto the floor. He stared at it with dawning comprehension and rage. He ground his teeth as his fists tightened in the fabric of her jacket. It was more like helpless stinging fury that ebbed away to an aching loneliness. All his rage was swept aside by loss, dark and deep. He held Rey tighter as if his love for her could overcome what had been done and bring her back. He choked down another sob as he considered his next move. The cube beckoned, its edges beginning to glow as though it might open up for him. It could end his pain if he just… He shifted Rey so he could hold her while the cube did its work then he reached for the cube with trembling fingers.

Doors swished opened and he hesitated. The sound of shoes on a hard floor, running towards him, interrupted his resolution and his reach for the cube stilled for a moment.

A woman called out. “Rey.”

“Ben.” Uncle Luke. “Ben, no.”

“No. We can’t be too late,” the woman said.

Ben ignored them. He didn’t want to be in this world without Rey. He began to reach for the cube again.

“Ben! No. Don’t touch it.” His uncle’s arms swept around them both, pulling Ben’s hand away from the cube. The old man looked at him, relief flooding back into his eyes, eyes the same blue as his grandfather’s. He felt the warmth across that old bond.

Warmth that couldn’t dispel the sting of loss that now took hold of him like a spear through his heart.

“Rey.” His voice was a whimper. His uncle’s eyes grew dark as pain clouded their bright colour.

Ben heard the soft weeping of a woman. Ben turned to her.

Her hands covered her mouth as she tried to stop her tears. Ben shuddered. She looked like old Rey but she wasn’t.

“Let me hold her,” she said. Ben was reluctant to let Rey go.

“This is Galena, Rey’s mother,” Luke said. Ben nodded. He released his arms and let Rey slide across into her mother’s arms but he kept a hold of her hand, holding it against his chest. They all ended up as an aching mass of humanity wrapped around the one girl they all loved but had been too late to save.

The wrenching pain in his being swelled again, a cold vicious loss that clawed at him inside.

“She’s gone. I love her and she’s gone,” was all he could say. This was worse than Dastron. The bond had remained and grown even, calling to him. There’d been a chance then to save her and it had paid off. Now…

“I was too weak uncle,” he said. “I couldn’t be Kylo Ren for her. She might have lived if I’d…”

“Done what Ben…Snoke always wanted to keep you two apart.” Ben bowed his head.

“She was going to kill Gem and she would have if I’d let her.” Ben edged closer to Rey again and held her hand against his face. He needed to touch her. Her mother didn’t object. “I just couldn’t let her seal her fate like that.”

“Somehow she was fighting it,” he said to Rey’s mother, driven to speak. “Maybe that was it. It was the bond. She made the bond with me, Ben Solo, not Kylo Ren. Maybe that was why Kylo Ren failed.”

He shook his head. “Ben Solo failed too. For a moment I had a chance. I could have put that ring on her.”

Galena looked at the ring. “She would have overcome the feeble power of the ring with Snoke’s knowledge.” Ben looked at her mother and knew she was telling the truth. His one chance had never been anything other than a mirage anyway.

All his chances were gone now. The bond was gone, shattered, wrenched from his being. She was gone, her life force ebbed away…into…he looked about…that black cube. He pushed aside his grief for a moment and let the rage burn like an inferno within him. He seized it now as it sat inert and closed and tried to use the force to rip it apart, to crush it, to demand it give her back the life force it had taken.

“Ben. What are you doing?”

“This thing. This was Snoke’s last solution. He’s taken her life to make himself immortal inside this. He wanted to be immortal but it required a life of another to make it happen. He took hers. Now from this thing he can come back and take control again.”

He threw the black cube across the room, propelling it with the force to smash it against the durasteel wall. The thing bounced off and flew back, past him. He spun and saw it snick into an old wizened, orange skinned hand.

“I think you’ll find Snoke won’t be as immortal as he’d hoped.”


	43. Chapter 43

Ben froze at the sound of that voice. He ground his teeth. Not her. Not now.

“Maz. What are you doing here?” his uncle said in a welcoming voice.

Ben felt anything but welcoming towards the diminutive force user who was his father’s friend. The yawning pain of the broken bond was growing worse and the last thing he needed was more judgement from the old thief. He decided to ignore her. Let her talk to Luke.

 “You’re too late,” Rey’s mother snapped. Ben looked up at Galena for a moment to find her pain echoed his own but then their gazes dropped back to Rey. He stared down at her soft, pale face. Her freckles, faded a little from being away from Jakku, now stood out on her pale face like a scattering of dark stars. The feel of her skin, still just a little warm, eased the ache that consumed his whole body.

“Actually I got here at just the right time,” Maz groused. “Before this one does something silly.” Ben looked up this time. Maz was staring at him. He looked away. Those eyes, huge behind their goggles, saw too much. Without Rey he still wanted to die. And yes, Maz still wasn’t happy with him. Not that he cared.

“Oh, he already tried that,” Luke said. “At least we got here before he could…” Luke didn’t finish, just put a hand on Ben’s shoulder and squeezed it. Uncle Luke hadn’t done that since he was a teen. He realised now how the withdrawal of a simple loving touch could hurt so much. He let himself feel just a little bit of the comfort of his uncle’s presence before he was swamped again by the raw cutting loss he felt inside where the bond with Rey used to be and shut his feelings down again.

Maz huffed and continued. “Now, Luke. The Whill stone. I assume you have it.”

Ben wasn’t really listening, he just gazed down at Rey as he held her hand, hopelessness creeping into his heart and mind. He would have been angry once, thrown his sabre, broken things, hurting others. But he was too numb for that. Seeing Rey so pale and still was like Gem’s knife in his gut all over again, but this time there was no cure. His soul was left paralysed and unable to breathe. If there was something that could take this life of pain from him right now he’d grasp it with both hands. Even death.

He didn’t see his uncle pull the white stone from out of his robes. He felt it’s pull in the force though and cast it a cursory glance. Something about it plucked at his mind, telling him to take notice. He stared at it, apathetic to its pull in the force. Like the brown stone that had formed part of the weapon on Ahch-To, this one seemed plain and uninteresting.

His Uncle brushed his hand across it and patterns on the stone came alive. He blinked. He could read the words easily. At least they meant something to him, words that spoke about a return of the light after the dark had gone to rest.

He turned away. He cared little for riddles of the force right now. He just wanted to hold Rey’s hand and watch her face. He wanted to memorize her face forever. He would not forget her. He would forever see her face, pale and still, before him.

He tried to keep his mind blank because if he did think his mind would be screaming that this wasn’t true. This wasn’t right. Something was wrong and it shouldn’t be like this. She was meant to be here for a long time yet. The force had told him that back on Ahch-To. How could this be put right?

He blanked his mind. He couldn’t think of that now. He just needed Rey. His own Rey. This plucky little scavenger who thought she was no-one. This beautiful woman who had challenged him and won at almost every turn. Rey, who knew his weaknesses yet gave him strength. This bright light that could touch the edge of darkness and pass on unchanged. She had captured his heart and he was content for her to keep it.

Maz took the stone and as she did it glowed brilliant white, like a switch had been turned on. That same demand that he take notice rattled him again. He didn’t want to but he looked up and squinted at its brightness.

“Now Ben. I need you to reach out to Rey in the force.”

“What?” She ignored his question and adjusted her goggles.

“You too Galena.”

“What do you think you’re doing?” Galena demanded. Maz ignored her and stood at Rey’s feet.

“I need you to lay her on the floor,” Maz said. When no-one made a move to let Rey go Maz hissed.

“Rey doesn’t have time for this. If you want to save her lay her down on the floor.”

Ben felt the sting of abandoned hope in his mind and anger flared in its wake. He glared up at Maz but before he could say something that would open the floodgates of anger that he realised was just waiting to be unleashed, Maz snarled a command at him.

“Do it.”

Ben felt her put the force behind her words but it wasn’t strong enough to compel him. The force plucked at his consciousness again and warned him to take notice. He frowned. He felt as though he were on a razor edge. One side fell into a world of rage and despair the other…was terrifying. The promise of the light could burn him up and leave him empty or it could…he didn’t know if he could face that kind of hope and not die in the process.

Galena released Rey and began to do as Maz said. Ben, letting his mind go blank again and his body become like an automaton, did as Maz demanded. He cradled the back of Rey’s head and helped to lower her to the floor. He didn’t release her hand though and Galena kept a hold of her other hand.

“Place the stone over her heart,” Maz said. Luke took the stone back and reached over to lay it over Rey’s heart. It looked pale and almost lifeless now, as though it reflected the state of the person it touched. Ben stared at the stone. Almost _lifeless_. He frowned. _Almost_ lifeless? He shut down the ray of hope before it could burn him.

“Ah, see,” Maz said. “The force is not all gone from her. Quickly now. Place your hands over the stone.”

Ben didn’t think, he just placed his hand on the stone over Rey’s heart. The stone held just a little warmth.

Galena looked reluctant.

“It’s not too late. She needs you,” Maz said. Galena reached tentatively towards the stone and placed her hand over his. Ben felt the force begin to pulse and the hair on the back of his neck stood up. Hope was shining now and he tried to shut it out, to keep it from burning him, scouring him empty when his hopes were lost again. Maz kept speaking and it was all Ben could do not to hurtle himself back to that razor edge where the dark promised the solace of fulfilling his rage. He reminded himself that despair was there too. He knew, with the dark it always took more than it gave.

“Now you both share a strong bond with her and you’re going to use it to bring her back.”

Maz turned to Luke. “Your bond is not as strong but we will need any extra help we can get.”

When Luke’s hand joined theirs Ben succumbed to his hopes, damn the consequences. Whatever his father’s annoying old friend was doing he was committed to it now.

“Well don’t just stare, reach out to her.”

Ben didn’t need any more encouragement. He shifted to a position he sometimes used for meditation and closed his eyes, holding onto Rey’s hand and the stone. He wasn’t sure where to start though. He could feel Galena also reaching. Should he follow her? He thought about how the bond had started and decided to simply look into Rey’s mind, even if it seemed dark and cold.

He stumbled into her mind like a man dying of thirst only to find more than just darkness and cold. Pain that twisted his gut and wrenched at his heart gripped him like the jaws of a Rancor. This was her side of the broken bond. He wrapped his arms about himself and stumbled on through the darkened halls of her mind. The shattered bond was a gaping hole in her being from which much of her pain flowed. A nightmare of loss ate at her. He shook and fell to his knees, nearly losing control of his own pain. It threatened to tear into him. With an effort he blanked his mind, like some kind of tranquiliser he used the force to numb the pain.

It didn’t work. He was going to lose control and be forever lost in the pain. He let another emotion in, just enough to quarterise the pain from the shattered bond. Just enough to spur him on to find what he needed to find.  

Anger swelled and burned within him that Snoke had done this one last thing to her, to them. A surge of rage spurred his determination. He let it turn his blood to fire. She would not be taken from him. He surged deep into the pain and screamed out her name in defiance.

He didn’t know how long he called, howled, her name but the pain never left, numbing him, pulling him under. He gripped with all the steel in his bones and held on.

Her mother was nearby. He could feel her pulling the force to Rey the way Rey had done to him. The force was building like a sun and he reached for it, screaming for Rey and beating back the pain. He followed the force and the light as it grew.

At some point it felt like he was walking through sand, his feet sinking and sliding in its coarse deceptiveness. A whirlwind of pain and dirt blasted him back but he kept reaching for the light, following the path it shone for him.

He ran into something hard and metallic. He put out his hands. It felt like durasteel, old and decayed. In the storm that raged about him he could not see it properly but he felt his way along its outer edge until he found what felt like a latch and a door. He tested it and found it was opened easily enough and so he pushed it open, thrust himself inside and slammed it shut behind him.

He looked around. Now that the storm was gone he could see. The light of the force flowed and twisted about him, illuminating the space where he now stood. It was the interior of an aging Imperial war machine. Rudimentary and well-worn equipment was scattered about, the kind that would have been scavenged from other Imperial war machines. There was a low table with a vase of long dead flowers. A doll, roughly made to look like a Rebel fighter pilot, sat next to an actual Rebel fighter helmet.

Ben froze. It felt as though a giant hand reached in and clenched his heart in a crushing grip. His mouth fell open. He remembered this place but he hadn’t taken the time to see it properly, that time on Starkiller base. His eye was caught by the marks on one wall, row after orderly row of marks, scratched there by a tiny blade. The kind made by a prisoner in a cell – or someone waiting for their family. He knew with a new ache in his heart that each mark would coincide with a day spent in this place. It was a place that held little or no comforts or homeliness but instead screamed of survival and dull existence.

This was where Rey had lived on Jakku.

Why were they here?

He reached for Rey again. She was nearby. He looked about.

He found her lying in a makeshift bed of scavenged bits and pieces. The doll was now clenched in her hand.

“Rey,” he called, scrambling across the distance between them to kneel at her side. He swallowed a sob. She was alive but she looked like she was in some kind of nightmare, her brow furrowed and her mouth open just a little and turned down as though she were frightened and in pain. She clenched the doll so hard it was nearly bent in two. Ben reached out to the hand that held the doll.

“I made it for her,” Galena said. Her presence next to him didn’t surprise him.

Ben placed his hand on Rey’s but his touch made her flinch and he backed off. Her head lolled from one side to the other. He reached for her hand again. He’d expected her to be cold but instead she was hot, feverish. He reached out again and touched her forehead and felt it burn under his fingers. He shook his head. She wasn’t dead but she was close to it. He bent forward, closer to her face.

“Rey.” He closed his hand over her hand with the doll and shook it. She flinched again and moaned but did not wake up.

Momentary elation that she was alive was swamped by the certainty that she would remain forever like this if she stayed here.

“We have to get her out of this place,” Galena said.

“This is where she lived on Jakku,” Ben said. Galena pressed the back of her hand over her mouth and stared at her daughter with haunted eyes. She shook her head.  

“Why could I not protect her from this?” she said. 

“It was Snoke,” Ben said. “If you’re not opposing him at every turn then you’re falling into one of his traps.”

“It was more than Snoke,” Galena said. “It’s the dark side itself. The light is the source of life while the dark devours it. In its place the dark is useful. When it is used out of place it becomes insatiable. Snoke was fully given over to it, whatever he said to you about it. Snoke was in its trap as well. Snoke was darkness but the darkness is more than Snoke.”

Ben felt what she was saying, it had been born out in his own mind and body. He had no time for reflection though. He leaned over to pull Rey into his arms. He was going to take her out of this place. This was her trap. This place of loneliness and abandonment. She moaned and struggled as though she were trying to fight him.

“Rey. It’s me. Ben.” She shook her head, the furrows in her brow growing deeper.

“Rey. Wake up,” her mother said. “I’m here Rey. Wake up.”

Whispered words passed from her lips. Ben bent closer again to try and catch them.

“sorry…hurt…don’t come…” Ben froze. He didn’t understand. He could not use the bond to figure out what was going on in her head. Her brows pulled together but her face turned into his neck as though she recognised something and found comfort there. He pulled her closer to him and this time she sighed and relaxed. He couldn’t stop a smile spreading across his face. A tear fell from his face onto hers. An ugly surge of guilt rose up out of his repressed emotions. How many times can he almost lose her before she didn’t come back? How many times could he fail her before he couldn’t make it right? He knew he didn’t deserve her but he had to do something to help her. He pulled her close and whispered in her ear.

“Rey, wake up.” It seemed to him that she curled in on herself. As though she were hiding.  

“Ben, look up.” It was his uncle’s voice. Ben was glad he made here too. On instinct Ben pulled Rey closer to him but obeyed his uncle’s command.

Above him a dark spectre rose up. For a moment he recognised his own form as a Knight of Ren but it wasn’t quite right. The face, darkened by a cowl over the head was not masked but all Ben could see were the burning pinpoint centres of two eyes. Ben recognised the form and feel of Snoke. The height combined with the bent form and the savage disregard for life.

But it also wasn’t like Snoke. It projected greater physical power, though still appearing to be wounded. The edges of the spectre were amorphous tendrils that seeped into the force about it, except where those tendrils twisted down like claws about to take hold of Rey’s body. Ben pulled her bodily from the bed and stumbled back with her in his arms. Rey whimpered, a frown creasing her brow and her head slowly shaking from side to side.  

The spectre was faster than Ben. The black tendrils were about her and pulling her from his arms.

Ben refused to let Rey go. He used all of his effort and force ability to leap up and throw his arms about her again before she was lifted out of his reach, holding her fast against his chest. A whisper came to his ears.

“ _Ben_.”

Her lips barely moved but he knew she had called his name. She was trying to fight whatever this thing was that held her.

The dark tendrils began to fold about him as well. They burned him as though they were born of the cold dark of deep space. But there was still fire in his blood and steel in his bones. Ben mustered the force to fight the pain and keep Rey in his arms. He refused to let her go to fight the spectre. He would never let her go again.

“Nooo.” It was Uncle Luke. A flash of green brilliance passed through the spectre and it recoiled. Ben turned his head to see the light of the force, green and swirling, building in Luke’s hands and then striking out against the spectre.

It was like being burned by the heat and the cold at the same time. Another light began to curl about him and Rey though. Galena Kenobi used her golden light to protect them while Luke used his green light to fight the spectre. It gave him strength to know they fought for him and Rey.

The spectre was not so easily dissuaded. It struck out against both Luke and Galena with dark arrows of pain that sent them tumbling back. Ben tried to use that moment of distraction to drag Rey away again. He had to get her out the door. He twisted against the dark tendrils about him and Rey and for a moment he thought he might get away but the spectre reasserted its hold on them both and began to drag them in.

Ben didn’t know how else to fight.

“Rey. Wake up. Rey, help me save you. Stay with me Rey. Don’t let it take you.” He thought her hand tried to curl into the fabric of his cowl but the spectre pulled and her hand fell away.

Ben dug his feet into the floor but wasn’t able to gain much purchase on the decaying metal sides of the ATAT. He felt himself being lifted again.

The spectre spoke.

“If you will not let her go I will take you both,” it hissed. Ben shivered. Warning screamed in his head that he stood on a precipice greater than anything. Let go of Rey to fight the spectre or hold on to her and be taken down with her.

It wasn’t much of a choice. Well, if the twisted and torn Kylo Ren had to come out of the dark again to save her so be it. Kylo Ren knew all about the dark, how it twisted and tore you apart. What it could make you do. If that was going to be the way of it he’d let himself be ripped apart before he’d let her go. Let the darkness take him. He would never let her go.

“She belongs to me,” he snarled at the spectre. Here was a part of him he knew well, that nasty possessive part of him. The part that warred against the Jedi teachings. The part that refused to let go what he loved. The part that would lash out and hurt those he loved instead of letting go his pain and accepting the will of the force. The lost and lonely child for whom the gentle words of Snoke’s deceit fed his anger and hatred. The twisting self-hate that demanded the darkness obey his every command to punish and possess. The pain that bloomed from every selfish act.

Rey was the only one who could sooth that pain.

And yet she was in pain too.

He could save her.

He had to.

He loved her.

Compassion. Love. It was the one thing that was constant. The darkness held a pull to the light and the light held a pull to the dark but in them both his love for her was still there. Whatever his choice was he would let this love be his guide, whether he took up the dark or the light it would be for love.

So, selfish and possessive he may be, he loved her and he would never let her go ever again. He would not allow her to be taken from him into the darkness alone. Being alone was her greatest fear. Whatever depths of the dark they were dragged to they would go together.

He tightened his grip on her, pulling her head in under his chin and burying his face in her hair. He pulled at the force with all of his love and possessive fury and wrapped it around them both like a chain, binding them together.

“I will not let her go,” he growled. He felt Rey answer, not in words or actions but he felt her in his head. Just like the first time, looking at him.

The spectre loomed. A cold laugh.

“We’ll see.”

Green and gold light ripped at the spectre again. The feeling of being carried away faltered and Ben used the force to pull down against the spectre. He twisted and thrashed, all the while keeping a durasteel grip on Rey.

The black tendrils burned into him, as though it were trying to cut him away from Rey.

Ben put all his effort into holding on to Rey. Instead of struggling to get free he concentrated on just holding her, keeping her for himself. He pulled on the force, wherever it came from, dark, light or somewhere else. He didn’t care. He had to hold on to Rey.

_Ben_

It was her voice in his head.

He almost let her go. He craned his neck to look down at her face half buried in his neck and hair. She still looked as though she slept but her face no longer gave the impression of pain. She looked to be at peace. He felt her inside his mind again, as though her fingers were brushing across his thoughts, setting him on fire with longing for her to be a part of him again. He trembled when her gentle intimate touch reached into the depths of his soul.

_Ben._

_Rey._

Something from each of them twisted together and held fast.

A roar filled his ears. Green and gold force light continued to flash around him as Luke and Galena used the force against the spectre and its black tendrils retreated.

In their absence a warm glow grew between his heart and Rey’s heart, surrounding them both.

The spectre hissed and darted forward in spite of the force lightning being used against it. With returned vengeance the dark icy burning tentacles of the spectre slithered around him and began to dig their way between him and Rey. It was trying to extinguish the warmth that glowed between them. Ben knew it would succeed eventually but he refused to give up. He would never let her go.

Rey moved, her face buried deeper into the crook of his neck while an arm came up to slide about his waist.

“Rey. Please wake up. Help me fight it.”

Dark lightning crackled about him and pain exploded across his body and his hold loosened. The spectres face grew close to his. His skin prickled and shivers gipped his body. He could feel the malevolent intent strike at him.

“I will never let her go,” the spectre hissed. “She belongs to me.”

The tendrils pushed their way between him and Rey. He tried to fight but he felt his body weaken. The glow darkened. _No._

Ben fought the only way he knew how. He held on to Rey and allowed no other thought in his mind but her. He thought of the first day they met, how he thought her such easy prey only to find a savage determination to survive and win that bested him at every turn. He thought of her that moment before she rushed him and sent him tumbling into the escape pod on the Finalizer. He was such an idiot to underestimate her yet again. And then he’d kissed her while he was off his head with Solia’s tranquilisers for the force sensitive and cast adrift by her force block. He would kiss her again too. He would see her grow into old Rey. He crushed her body to him, refusing to let her go.

He could hear the blood pumping in his ears and his body ached.

A voice cried out above the rush of blood in his ears.

“Stop fighting it with your body and use your mind,” Luke yelled. Ben wasn’t sure who Luke was yelling that to but he tried to listen. Green and gold light continued to flash about him and Rey but the spectre seemed to be evenly matched to it, maybe even stronger. His uncle had drawn close again.

“Ben you’re stronger. You can fight it. Ben, fight it.”  

Ben’s muscles burned and began to shake. Weakness was growing within him, like the moments when he was a boy and he’d failed, like the moment when…he’d let the dark win and killed his father. Ben was growing weak and the spectre was growing strong.

_Ben_

Her voice was growing weaker too.

“You’re a week fool Ben Solo. Only Kylo Ren is strong enough to keep her.” The spectre’s voice was a mocking cackle curled up with a warning hiss.

“I am not Kylo Ren,” Ben said.

“No, I am Kylo Ren,” the spectre said. Ben looked up, confused.

“What?”

 “I have had so many apprentices and hosts but you had more promise than most. Snoke was wrong about you though.”

A chill swept through Ben’s blood. It was true. Snoke was just a puppet and he would have been too. Rage sparked within him.

The thing wrenched at Rey.

He might have let her go too, if the realisation hadn’t come to him in that moment.

“You’re wrong. It’s Kylo Ren who is the weak fool. I’m Ben Solo, the grandson of Anakin Skywalker. The force is strong in my family. I will pass it on to my children. I will not take it from others. I don’t need to. But as for Kylo Ren, he’s long dead.”

Rey’s eyes cracked open and her arms tightened about him.

He felt a new strength. A strength born of more than just himself. Rey was fighting now too. He felt her wrapping herself around him in his arms and in the force. A bond, new and brilliant flared between them. Powerful. Resilient. A warm glow that was growing.

“Ben,” she whispered and he fell in love with her all over again. He felt her pulling on the force and he joined with her. Together they let the force flow to them. Nothing in its way. Just him and Rey.

Ben could feel it just like on Ahch-To, like gleaming stars it sparkled and curled about them. The spectre retreated, its tendrils flinching away as the light over took them. The light came to them as strong as it might and they revelled in the swirling, glowing storm that rose about them. Somehow it was joined by green and gold as well. The ugly, decaying world of loneliness on Jakku crumbled and faded.

Everything was dark. He breathed. Something cool and hard beneath his hand. They were back on the Finalizer.

Someone sighed.

Rey.

He opened his eyes and found her gentle hazel eyes gazing up at him. His heart stopped. She was alive.

She whispered to him.

“You came for me.”

He cupped her face with his hand. “Of course.”

She reached up and put her hand over his and turned in to kiss the palm of his hand.

Ben’s heart skipped a beat. Without thinking he reached out through the bond…and touched her mind. Ben gazed at her in wonder. He suspected he was staring with his mouth open looking at her like an idiot.

Her eyes widened. “It came back.” She pushed herself up to wrap her arms about him and he folded her in against his heart, not sure if it was still beating. She turned her head, her lips skimming the lobe of his ear, her words a mere whisper.  

“Why? Why did you come for me?” He pulled back enough to look into her eyes again. Her eyes were filled with pain and he knew how much she hurt because he’d felt it too.

Tears gathered in her eyes and he held her tighter. She looked down. This time he felt shame and guilt darken her heart.

“I turned my back on you. I broke our bond. I threw it away like it was nothing. I abandoned you,” she said. Ben knew that to her this was the greatest horror she could perpetrate on anyone.

Ben smiled. There was really only one thing he could say. “I love you more than that.”

Her eyes glistened with tears and a hiccuppy little sob choked her voice. “You shouldn’t. I’m not good enough.”

Ben nearly choked. “You’re not good enough. Did that thing steal your memories again sweetheart? Remember who the monster is here.”

He regretted the words immediately. A shadow darkened her brilliant eyes. Fear that she would never truly forgive him for what he’d done threatened to shatter his heart. He shouldn’t be surprised. In spite of everything, he couldn’t expect people to forget…

He was taken by surprise when her hand slid up behind his neck and pulled him down and kissed him. She was gentle but possessive.

_My monster._

Whatever steel had been in his bones before, they were molten now, leaving him weak in her presence. His blood was still on fire though, threatening to turn him to ashes in her arms.

She pulled away but then threw her arms about him and hugged him. He lost himself in her arms for who knows how long.

He felt her stiffen. Shock and fear and hope crashed across the bond. He pulled back. This time she wasn’t looking at him. She was looking over his shoulder, her mouth open and her eyes riveted on someone behind him.

He let her go, pushing down the disappointment of her leaving his arms and that nasty little possessive streak of his that wanted to keep her all for himself. He loved her too much to keep her from this.

“Hello Rey,” Galena said.

Ben felt her body jolt and shake when her mother spoke. She was paralysed, unable to go to the one person she had longed to see again for so long. Gently he pushed her towards her mother. He felt her emotions swing wildly from elation to fear to hope and back to elation then came a storm of pain and loss and anger and resentment which she pushed down. Instead she was determined to enjoy this moment. He watched as she fell into her mother’s arms, a shaking and tearful child who was lost and found again.

Ben pulled his knees into his chest as he watched mother and daughter reunite. He couldn’t help a smile as he watched them but it hurt as well. He blocked some of Rey’s more intense emotions as they hurt for him to feel them. They ran rough across his losses and the absence of his own mother. He wanted Rey to have this, he just wished…

For a moment Ben thought he saw the shadow and sparkle of an old Jedi standing above the two women. Ben could have sworn the figure smiled and placed a hand on the head of each of them. His breath stopped when he thought a pair of ghostly eyes turned to him but a smile warmed their piercing gaze.

“Father.” “Grandfather.” Rey and her mother spoke at once. The old Jedi looked down to smile at each of them and then was gone. They stared at the vacant space where the ghost had stood but then turned to each other again and held each other.

A hand pressed down on his shoulder. He looked up. It was his uncle’s natural hand, the warmth and familiar touch more comforting than he expected. He allowed himself a smile as he put his hand over his uncle’s hand.

“Makes it all worthwhile,” his uncle muttered. Ben shook his head and laughed, a dry sound that held little humour. He wasn’t sure about that, given who he’d hurt and what he’d done, but right now he wouldn’t have things any other way.

His uncle sighed.

“I hate to bring this up right now but there seems to be a couple of things missing.”

Ben looked about, a frown on his face. He nodded.

“Things like that black cube and the white stone,” he said.

“Oh, I still have the white stone,” Luke said, lifting it up with his synthetic hand. “But yes, the black cube is gone…and so is Maz.”


	44. Chapter 44

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I'm not sure this chapter went the way I wanted it to but here it is anyway.

Poe placed a hand on Imri’s shoulder. She went still, like she had been waiting for him to approach her. She turned just a little and he thought he saw her lower lip quiver. He stopped and watched her for a moment and she forced an impassive smile.

He didn’t want to cause her any distress so he kept just a little distance between them and spoke in a soft tone.

“Imri, what is it.” He felt her shiver and drew closer to her without thinking. She turned fully to him. The wan smile was still there.

“What did Hux say to you?” Poe said.

Her smile grew bitter.

“Nothing that you should worry about.”

Poe considered her. Hux must still have some kind of hold over her. He’d been the one to turn her into who she was. Her skills as a slicer were unparalleled. Poe had his suspicions though. Perhaps Imri’s skills were her own and Hux had moulded her to make her controllable.

“You’re afraid to talk to me about it. I worry about that.”

She shook her head and one of her head tails brushed against his hand. She closed her eyes. Without thinking he reached out and traced his finger down the side of her leku. He felt her flinch and withdrew his hand.

“What is it?”

She turned to him but her face was downcast.

“It’s not something specific he said. It’s just…”

She shook her head and looked away again. Poe wanted to encourage her, reassure her, but he knew in his gut it was better not to push her so he stayed silent. He took one chance though and lifted his hand to stroke her head tail again. She shivered and leant into him. He put his arms around her and she sighed.

“You’re a sweet charming devil Poe Dameron. Whatever your motives are I don’t care. It’s not like Hux has pure motives either.”

Poe wasn’t sure he’d heard her right.

“What?”

She buried her face against his shoulder. Poe grew alarmed when her shoulders started to shake.

“Hey. What’s the matter? Please.”

She looked up at him, the blue skin of her cheeks glistening with tears. Poe wiped them away with backs of his fingers. Imri gave him a waobbly smile but then her eyes grew dark again.

“You’re a recruiter aren’t you,” she said. Poe was dumfounded. He suspected he was staring at her with his mouth open looking like an idiot.

“Hux told me how the Resistance uses such techniques to recruit people for what they want and then abandons them. I didn’t want to believe it was true but then he said…”

Her voice choked and stopped. Poe’s brain was still trying to comprehend. Hux must have perpetrated some kind of outright lie on her to convince her of this.

She shook her head.

“Oh, please continue.” He winced when he heard the sharp note in his voice. It wasn’t her he was angry with though. She tried to take a step away but Poe tightened his arms about her. She frowned and looked up. He wasn’t going to let this go before he knew what was going on.

“What did he say,” Poe demanded. Imri scowled. She tried to pull free.

“Let me go,” she snapped. Poe released his arms. He wasn’t going to get anywhere by being a jerk. If she wanted to tell him it should be on her own terms. He’d throttle Hux later…on his own terms.

Her face turned a darker shade of blue. He figured she was entitled to be angry. She’d been manipulated enough. He just needed to make sure she knew _who_ was manipulating her.

“What did he say,” Poe demanded, carefully modulating his voice to keep the wrath from it. Imri looked away for a time, chewing at her lip. She drew in a breath and sighed then turned to him. Her eyes were shuttered, giving nothing away about what was going on in her mind.

“He said many of the Resistance were trained in seduction to trap people into working for them. He said you were one of the best, or worst, depends on how you view it. He said that’s how you got Finn to free you and then escape. He said Finn always regretted what he did and that he wanted to come back to the First Order but couldn’t because you had a hold over him and…”

She didn’t get any further before Poe erupted into laughter. She stamped her foot.

“Don’t laugh. I thought I loved you and that you might love me but now I know everything was just a game.” Poe wasn’t sure he heard that right and like an idiot he just stared at her. Did she say love…? A game.

“Not that I really care. You and the Resistance would be better to work for than the First Order and if you wanted any favours then I’d be happy…”

“Favours,” Poe snapped. His vision went red when he imagined what kind of favours Hux might want. Imri looked away. Poe’s heart ached for her, what she must have been through. Poe reached up and cupped the side of her face in his hand and turned her face back to look up at his.

“I don’t know what Hux did to get you to believe that stuff but, even if I could seduce people like that to the Resistance, I never would. I believe in freedom. I believe everyone should be free to choose who and what they want. That includes you. This is not a game. You’re not a game to me. Nor do I expect favours.”

Imri frowned. “He said you would say something like that but…”

There was a step behind them and a cough. They turned to find Mitaka there. Poe glowered at him. What did he want? Now was not a good time.

“I’m sorry to do this…I didn’t mean to overhear…” at this his face began to go red. “At least…Look, don’t kill me here but Commandant Hux developed some very…strange techniques. They were used intensely on the Stormtroopers. And maybe some others.” Mitaka looked about as though someone might overhear him, even though Hux and Phasma were down at the med bay.

“Anyway, he developed some powerful techniques to control people. I know for a fact that Miss Hallomy was one of his experiments that…well…didn’t go so well. But that doesn’t mean he can’t still mess with her head and…”

His voice trailed away and he stepped back. He mumbled one last comment. “Sorry…I think Hux has been messing with her and…”

He turned back to his console then and began tapping away.

“Thank you,” Poe said. Mitaka nodded but didn’t look their way. Poe pulled Imri further away from the First Order captain.

“Ok. So I think I’m getting the picture here. Next time I see Hux I’m going to black his eye and then I’m going to…”

“No.” Imri said. He looked down at her and realised he hadn’t yet turned off the glare in his eyes he was reserving for the image of his fist connecting with Hux’ face. He pushed the thought away and tried to focus on her and what she was going through.

“Look. Whatever Hux said to you, I think you can be sure it’s all rubbish. That piece of space dirt just wants you for himself.”

Imri frowned.

“Yes but…” Her face went dark blue again. The darkest blue seemed to congregate around her cheeks and team up with the spark in her eyes and the deep scowl on her forehead. Her fists clenched and her eyes narrowed to slits.

“I’m going to kill him.” Her words were soft and matter of fact. Poe knew she was dead serious.

“Whoa, wait a moment. That might not be a good idea…” Imri swung away from him before he could catch her. Next thing he knew he was doing his best to catch up to her as she stomped towards the lifts.

“He’s in the med unit isn’t he?”

“Yes but, Imri, sweetheart. Maybe you should cool off a bit first. He’s a prisoner of war and if you kill him…”

An alarm went off. A series of alarms went off. Ship proximity alarms if he remembered correctly. The reinforcements from the Resistance were here.

An engine started up. They all looked about. The General’s ship was powering up and lifting off.

“Where the hell is that going,” he muttered.

Poe stopped unsure about whether to follow Imri or to find out what was going on. In a bizarre moment Mitaka addressed him as though there was no such thing as the Resistance or the First Order.

“Sir, we’re being hailed.” Mitaka held a finger on his earpiece as he listened. “By General Organa I believe.”

Poe looked at Imri. She crossed her arms and glared but, to his relief, stayed where she was. He turned back to the comm and waved Mitaka aside.

“General, I’m glad to see you but can I get back to you. I just need to…”

Mitaka’s voice interrupted as he used another comm to address the shuttle leaving the hangar.

“Resistance shuttle. Report. Where are you going?”

Finn answered his query.

“I’m sorry. Tell Poe I couldn’t stop him. I thought I better go with him.”

Poe tapped a couple of buttons. Comm units seemed to be similar whatever side of the galaxy you were on.

“Stop who,” Poe broke in.

“Sanjo is determined to head down to the planet so I figured I better go with him,” Finn said. Poe demanded to speak to Sanjo and Finn handed him over.

“Sanjo. What’s going on?”

“I have to find her,” was the reply.

“Find who.”

“I know she’s there somewhere. I know logic says she’s gone but…maybe I just have to find the place. I don’t know. I have to go down there Poe.”

Poe’s mouth fell open. Solia. She’d been left behind and was most likely dead. Of course he was going to go back down there. There was one problem though.

“Sanjo, there’s a destroyer load of First Order people down there.”

“I’ll be alright. We’re not fighting them anymore.”

“They don’t know that Sanjo. They probably don’t know that Snoke is dead or that their command has surrendered to the Republic.”

“I’ll be careful but I can’t just sit around when I know I have to go back and find her.” The comm went dead. He tried to get it back but the connection was being blocked.

Another signal demanded his attention.

“General. Sorry, but It seems Sanjo has taken your shuttle down to the surface to look for his sister, or what’s left of her.”

“Oh. What about Ben.” Poe had to physically stop himself from grinding his teeth.

“I have no idea but he’s here somewhere I assume.”

“Oh, I know he’s there but you need to let him know what Sanjo is doing. He’s Ben’s student now so he needs to know. He needs to go after him.”

Poe rubbed his forehead with the palm of his hand. How was it that _spacedirt_ was somehow accepted back so easily into the fold? He looked about and realised Imri was gone. _Damn._

He looked at Mitaka. No, he wasn’t going to trust the guy just because he seemed amenable and convenient in a crisis.

He turned to 3PO. “I need you to let…” he nearly choked on the name “Ben Solo know about Sanjo. Also tell Master Luke that the General is here.”

He aimed the blaster at Mitaka. “You. Come with me.” He wasn’t leaving Mitaka to his own resources until there were actual Resistance or Republic bodies standing on the Finalizer. Besides, he didn’t know which way to the med bay.

3PO shuffled over, his arms waving in alarm.

“Commander! Where are you going?”

“To stop Imri killing Hux. If I’m lucky he’ll only be maimed when I get there.” He threw a few more words over his shoulder. “Til then 3PO, you’re in charge.

“Oh.”

There was a terse growl from Chewie as he emerged from the Falcon where he was starting the fix on the interior.

“The General will be here soon and then she’ll be in charge,” Poe said as he shuffled Mitaka ahead of him, blaster on ready. 

 

And so it was that when General Leia Organa finally stepped onto the durasteel floor, flanked by a squad of Resistance fighters, and prepared to take control of her enemy’s ship, there was no fanfare, no prisoners, no tense surrender, just three droids and a disgruntled Wookie to greet her.

 

Rey’s world had turned completely upside down…in a good way. In a nightmare of pain and sorrow and unutterable loss she had found him there, calling her. That voice that had called to her in her dreams from long ago. Ben had called her once again. All she had to do was reach out to him. Now she could feel him again, in her mind, in her heart. He’d come for her and they’d healed what had been broken. It was wonderful and terrifying. She could be complete. They could be together, always. That old nightmare had turned into her daydream. That voice was real and she’d found its owner once again. She would not be afraid.

And now…her mother was here too. The mother she had so long believed dead. Pieces of her that she hadn’t realised were missing had returned. She had actually seen her grandfather for a moment as more than just a voice.

The arms about her were familiar but strange. She couldn’t believe it. Her mother. How was she here?

“Is it true, what Gem said? You’ve been a prisoner of Snoke.”

“Yes.” Rey didn’t want to let her anger overtake her happiness but she didn’t know what to do with this. All her time on Jakku waiting. Her mother captive. Prisoners both of them.

“Let go of your anger Rey. It is over. Finished with. Snoke is dead and we are both free.” Her mother’s words were balm to the wounds and scars across her heart.

There was another question in Rey’s heart that burned her. She flicked a look at Luke. Her mother knew what her question was.

“He is not your father. You were already born when I met him.” Rey nodded but she looked up at her mother wanting to know more.

“It’s a long story sweetheart. One I will tell you soon.”

There was a beep as a nearby comm opened.

“Master Luke, are you there.” Luke stood and went to the comm. 3PO must have scanned the ship for them.

“What is it 3PO.”

“Oh, I’m so glad I found you. Actually I was looking for young Master Solo.”

Rey saw Ben scowl while Luke smirked. Rey always forgot how old C3PO was. They were all just kids by comparison.

“He’s here. Can I give him a message?”

“Oh, yes, well, it seems young Sanjo has taken it upon himself to go to the surface. He said he was looking for her, that she was down there and he was going to find her.”

Ben jumped to his feet and strode to the comm.

“When did he go 3PO?”

“Oh it _is_ you Master Solo. I’m so glad…”

“3PO. When did Sanjo go?”

“Oh, um, well he took the General’s shuttle. It has only just left…”

“I’m coming,” Ben muttered. Rey’s heart had been burning as they spoke. She knew who Sanjo was going back for. The loss of her friend still pierced her heart.

“I’m coming too,” she blurted out. If there was any way she could help. Anything. She swallowed and looked between Luke and Ben.

“Be careful. Understand your motives Rey,” Luke said. “You can’t change what happened to Solia.”

Ben looked torn. She saw joy that she wanted to go with him but there was wariness too. She reached out to him, wanting to know what he was wary of. He could feel her guilt. That he could feel it made her recognise it.

“This is a source of pain for you my daughter. Beware you don’t add to it,” her mother said.

Rey looked at their faces. Didn’t they trust her? She had to fix this if she could.

“You can’t fix everything, Rey,” Ben said, his voice soft. Rey closed down their link on reflex but left it open just a little when she saw the look in his eyes when she shut him out. She knew they were all coming from a place of experience but that didn’t help. This was her mistake. This was something she had to do.

“I know. I just…I was the one who left her behind. It was my fault. I have to help find her if I can.” She bowed her head, not wanting to think of what they would most likely find. “Besides, I want to show Sanjo I care.”

She felt Ben reaching out to her, trying to comfort her and she let him in just a little. She was careful of her pain and guilt though. He carried so much, she didn’t want to burden him with any more.

“I may need you here Rey. There are things you could learn,” Luke said. Rey felt her heart drop. She wanted to go with Ben. She wanted to help find Solia.

“I know you think I’m going to rush off and get myself into trouble but I will follow Ben’s lead.” A burst of scepticism from Ben was teamed with a raised eyebrow from Luke. Rey could feel her impatience rise and tried to push it down. She reminded herself she was a Padawan and should be thinking broader than just her own wants and desires. She admitted to herself they were right to worry but it didn’t stop her feeling that she had to go. She had to help.

“My sister is here,” Luke said. “We’ll return to the main hangar to meet her and I will consider this on the way.” Rey knew it was a ploy but at least it wasn’t a ‘no’. She would try and prepare herself, to accept Luke’s decision.

Ben went on ahead and Rey began to go after him.

“Rey,” her mother said. Rey slowed her step. She wanted to spend time with her so much but right now she needed to help find Solia.

“Tell me about him,” her mother said. Rey was thrown off guard. Her mother continued. “There is a bond between you two. Tell me about him.”

Rey was lost for words at first. She had just met her mother for the first time in years but felt she had known her all her life. It felt strange to tell her things she would normally keep to herself. The warmth in her mother’s eyes let her open up. “I…we…it’s a bit strange. We were once enemies but now…”

“He loves you.”

Rey felt her heart skip. “Do you feel it?”

Her mother laughed. “I see it. The way he looks at you.” Rey felt her face grow warm. She didn’t know what to say to that.

“Besides, he risked everything to get you back. Only love can inspire that kind of devotion.”

“Isn’t that the bond though,” Rey said.

“Every bond is different. A broken bond can be a relief when there is no love.” There was a sad look in her mother’s eyes.

Rey shook her head. “But…”

“But that was not what I saw. Even when the bond was broken, his hold on you was the kind inspired by love.”

Rey didn’t know what to say. She hadn’t wanted to examine her feelings or his just yet. She was afraid of what it all meant.

“Do you love him,” her mother said. Rey knew that she did but she was afraid to let it be true. After everything that had happened she wondered if she was just too much of a risk. She’d abandoned him when the last essence of Snoke had invaded her. She’d done what she swore she’d never do. And she’d left Solia behind. Rey, the abandoned child, had abandoned those she cared about. Ben was still so fresh from his escape from the dark side, what if…what if she abandoned him again and he fell to the dark side again. So many things could go wrong.

“Yes, but…,” she said. Her mother put a hand on her shoulder.

“What’s holding you back?” Rey looked at Ben up ahead as they headed for the lifts back to the main hangar. She did love him. She wasn’t a fool. She knew her heart. It was just that she didn’t trust…

“I…what if it all goes wrong. What if we lose each other? What if…”

“Don’t let the past dictate the future Rey. Love is a risk. It’s true, it could all go wrong…but what if it doesn’t. You have a bond but you still get to choose Rey. Choose him. I know he’s right.”

Rey trembled as she thought about it. She reached out to him. He had let the bond go quiet. He was giving her privacy. She touched his thoughts and his stride faltered just a little. He responded with a touch of his own but kept walking.

Rey wanted so much to just let go all her fears and let her heart love as a little girl had once dreamed of doing. She reminded herself that fear lead to the dark side, especially this kind of fear.

When they reached the lifts Ben turned to her. He looked at her, uncertainty and longing in his eyes. Rey felt her heart skip. She could have cried. She wasn’t afraid to make dangerous jumps scavenging a star destroyer or in her exploits with the force, but this…this felt like a jump into the greatest, most terrifying depths of the unknown. When the lift opened, she made sure to slip in beside him. She reached out and curled her hand into his and he wrapped his larger hand about hers and smiled. Rey felt like she was in freefall and it was terrifying and exhilarating. She could do this. She could let her herself love someone, regardless of the consequences.

She opened the bond to Ben and let him feel what she was feeling. She felt him shiver and he squeezed her hand as he let her into his own thoughts and the love he had for her there. She was so focussed on Ben she didn’t notice the smile on Luke’s face or the way her mother stood close to him as well.

 

“Where is everyone,” Leia said. She had to find Ben and get him away from here…again.

Her Resistance squad had spread out looking for any others and beginning to secure the ship.

3PO shuffled over.

“I’m so glad you’re here. It’s rather odd. It seems the First Order abandoned ship because of the self-destruct. But it didn’t go off properly I think. Now the crew are all down on the planet.”

“Where’s Luke.”

“Oh he went with Lady Galena to find Master Solo and Miss Rey,” 3PO said. Leia blinked. Obviously she’d missed something.

“Lady Galena.”

“Oh, of course. Miss Rey’s mother apparently.” Leia blinked twice and then a memory rose up in her mind and her mouth dropped open.

Her thoughts were interrupted by running footsteps that echoed across the hangar.

“Give me that.”

Leia turned. The voice was strident and vaguely familiar.

“Not on your life child.”

And that cranky old voice was even more familiar.

Rey’s sister Gem was swinging her lightsabre at Maz Kanata, the diminutive old friend that Leia had shared much sorrow with over the years. The canny old smuggler dodged and ran on, something grasped in her hand.

Leia waited for the two to reach her, Gem swinging wildly and Maz dodging with more skill than one who didn’t know her might expect. Leia reached out with the force and blocked Gem’s foot, sending the surprised Knight of Ren tripping and tumbling across the floor to land in a heap at her feet. Maz slowed and looked up.

“Oh, it’s you,” Maz said and smiled. Gem wasn’t so welcoming but she was wary enough to scramble to her feet and back away.

“I know you,” Gem snapped.

“A lot of people do,” Leia said. Gem looked between Leia and Maz, taller than both of them but not inclined to wade in and start fighting the two of them.

A blaster shot whizzed across the hanger and smashed into a nearby wall. They all turned to see what new drama was unfolding.

“He’s mine Phasma. Come back here.”

“Imri! You can’t just kill him. He has value.”

They turned to see Phasma striding across the hangar with a groaning General Hux once again tossed over her shoulder. Leia figured the Captain was heading straight for her. A good thing she still had the payment stick in her pocket for Hux’ bounty.

The Captain’s imposing figure was trailed by three others. First was Imri Hallomy, carrying a large blaster and, by all appearances, a large chip on her shoulder. She was being shadowed by Poe Dameron, who was unsuccessfully trying to disarm the angry Twilek. Leia shook her head. Poe was the last person she’d expected to go off and lose his heart.

Last was a First Order officer who appeared to be tired and stressed and in need of a holiday. Leia felt an immediate kinship with the man.   

“Well that’s something you don’t see every day,” Maz said.

Leia found herself focussing less and less on the multiplying dramas in the hangar as she felt her brother and her son grow closer. Once again Leia was struck with the urgency to get Ben away from any Republic jurisdiction.

She turned to see Luke and a woman she’d never seen before emerge from a lift. There was something familiar about the woman. Something that became obvious the moment Rey also stepped out of the lift. If this woman wasn’t Galena Kenobi, Rey’s mother… oh, and was that Rey and Ben holding hands. She caught the gesture of affection just before their hands slipped apart as they also emerged from the lift.

Leia’s urgency to get Ben away to a place of safety tripled. It wasn’t just that she loved her son, she saw now that it wasn’t only her and her brother who would sustain the loss, Rey would too. She didn’t care if she was being a traitor to her own cause, Ben was a part of their lives and she wasn’t going to let him be ripped away. The planet below, looking for Sanjo, would be the perfect place for him to hide for now.

Luke looked glad to see her but his face took on a pinched look when Rey scooted around in front of him.

“Please let me go.”

Oh dear. Leia could feel some of it and guessed the rest. Rey wanted to go after Sanjo with Ben and Luke wasn’t sure it was a good idea. And Ben, she had long ago stopped prying into Ben’s mind but he was still easy for her to read, gave her the impression he was torn about the idea.

Leia pulled on the force for strength. Competing priorities, wasn’t that what she was good at. The entire New Republic had been a plethora of competing priorities. She turned to the easiest issue to fix.

“Maz, whatever it is you have I feel that it’s right that you take it and leave now,” she said. Maz nodded and gave her a wry smile. Gem shrieked.

“What! No. I’m taking the black cube. It was Snoke’s and it should go to me. I’m the only loyal Knight of Ren left.” Gem launched at Maz, trying to snatch the black cube. It was knocked out of Maz’ hand and it tumbled away until it sat in an open section of the floor, surrounded by everyone.

“Ah. There it is,” Luke said.

“It’s mine,” Gem growled and ignited her lightsabre. The cube rose and floated towards Luke…and stopped. It turned and headed back towards Maz. Gem tried to pull it as well but in the end she just started swinging her lightsabre to try and stop anyone else getting it.

“Gem. Why do you need it?”

Gem froze, her back to Galena Kenobi.

“It won’t give you what you want. If I’m right, you’ll never be able to open it.”

Gem’s shoulders slumped.

“You don’t understand. You’re all so powerful. I can never get my revenge if I don’t have that power.”

“Why do you need revenge Gem?” Galena said.

Gem spun around.

“You took her from me. If it wasn’t for you…” Gem glared at Galena.

“Snoke was the one who manipulated your mother into suicide Gem. He forced me into marriage with your father but you’re right. It didn’t work.”

Gem’s pain was palpable. So much anger streamed from her. Leia knew her own son had been the same not so long ago.

“Gem. You need us. You need a family. You don’t need this thing,” Galena said. Leia could feel Ben’s consciousness nudging at her mind and she reached out to him. That peaceful familiar link she had with her son was the greatest comfort she could ever know. She stabbed at it though with an urgent desire for him to go and find Sanjo on the planet below. Ben frowned.

_They’re coming._

Ben nodded. He would have gone too but Rey and Luke were focussed on Gem and Ben wasn’t going to leave until…

Gem began to shake and fell to her knees. Galena stepped forward and put a hand on her shoulder.

“I know I will never be your mother but please, let me be there for you.”

Gem looked up at Galena, bitterness in her eyes and her voice. “I took the jewel. I took it so you couldn’t protect yourself.” Gem looked at Rey. “It’s gone now. We smashed it fighting.”

“Good,” Galena said. “One more of Snoke’s ties has been broken then.”

“It belonged to my mother,” Gem screamed.

“For a little while, yes, but it belonged to Eli’s mother before her. I don’t even know who she was but she died too. Your father wanted to get rid of me like he wanted to get rid of your mother. It’s just that he couldn’t kill me so he got Snoke to get rid of me instead.”

Leia felt a cold little shiver. Gem’s face turned ashen.

“What did you say,” Gem whispered.

“Your father was not the man many thought. He wanted a child that fit his purpose. It had to be a girl. Eli was not a girl. You were a girl but the force was not strong enough in you. Rey seemed right at first, a powerful girl but Snoke knew from the start she had too much of the light in her so he turned Koril against his own daughter…”

“Stop,” Gem screamed. “I don’t care about Rey.” Galena and Gem looked at each other. Gem spoke in a low voice that caught in her throat.

“Eli. He was my brother. We had the same mother.”

“No. Gem. No. I’m sorry. Did no-one tell you?” Gem backed away from Galena. Rey stared at her sister as Gem began to unravel and fall apart.

“It’s not true,” Gem said as she slowly sunk to the ground. Galena stepped forward.

“Gem. I’m sorry.”

Rey stepped forward too. “Gem. I’m sorry for what I did to you. I didn’t know.”

Gem shook her head. “I always thought you had ruined our family,” Gem said. “But now you’re saying my father…”

Galena continued as though it was a relief to finally say all the things that for so long she had been unable to say.

“Gem. And you too Rey. Your father was not the man you imagined him to be. He had only one purpose in mind. He wanted to create a perfect child that he could make into the perfect force user. Snoke indulged him but Snoke knew Koril’s efforts would undermine his own plans for Ben. I can only go on what Luke has said about the fall of the temple but I suspect more than just your father were meant to die.”

“What are you saying,” Ben said. Galena turned to Ben.

“You know Snoke better than all of us. You know how he was there from the beginning.”

Leia took a breath. “Galena. He doesn’t know that part yet.”

Ben turned to her, disbelief on his face.

“What. There’s more.” Leia felt her heart drop. She had won so much back. She couldn’t lose it again now. Keeping secrets had been the problem though and she wasn’t going to do it any more.

“Snoke was there, watching you, watching us from the beginning. I don’t know how he did it but he knew you would be strong in the force before you were even born Ben. I didn’t know how to stop his influence…” she stopped, worried what this last revelation would do.

Leia felt Luke reach out to her. _You should have told me._

_I did tell you._

_Not when it began._

Ben looked pale. Leia tried to reach out to him but he was closed off. She bowed her head, if she lost him again she didn’t know what she would do.

“No. No I won’t lay blame on you this time. The blame goes where it should. On Snoke. He did this.” A few steps and Ben pulled her into his arms.

_I always loved you._

Leia felt something broken heal a little inside her. She buried her face in her son’s chest and just let herself enjoy the moment when hell had been averted. She just held him for a while, blocking everything else out.

Leia peeked up eventually when she finally began to wonder what else was going on. She felt Luke rather than saw him. He just smiled. Galena and Rey knelt with Gem. She caught a glimpse of Poe and Imri staring at each other with that new love look in their eyes.

Maz was of course making her way to her ship so she ignored the old smuggler. It was better she left as soon as she could. Whatever artefact she held, Maz would keep it hidden from those intent on misusing it.

And then there was Phasma. Her arms crossed, standing feet apart like a monolithic goddess with Hux sitting in a dejected heap at her feet. She didn’t look impatient, just impassive. Like she was just waiting for everything to be finished with so she could be on her way.

Leia reached into her pocket and pulled out the payment stick. Ben released her and she extended the payment towards the woman. Phasma didn’t seem to register her action at first but then she stepped around Hux and took the payment stick.  

Ben was at her side.

“Phasma, take the command shuttle. You’ll need to fix it but...I don’t need it anymore.” Phasma placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Thank you, but I actually have another ship I can use. It’s not as flashy but yours is a bit…obvious for a bounty hunter.” Ben laughed.

“Look at you all. You make me sick.” The bitter voice of General Hux tinged the air with venom as he stood and brushed himself down. Two Resistance fighters stepped up on either side of him and he paused.

“Well, they’ll probably execute me anyway. Kylo Ren…” The Resistance fighters tensed at the name and Leia pulled on the force to try and calm things as best she could.

“Actually, it’s Ben Solo.”

“Whatever. The Supreme Leader always knew you were a spoiled child who needed to be spoon fed everything. You never had a vision of your own. You’re a selfish child and now everything is gone because of you. If they don’t execute you next to me then the Republic is back where it was and the greatest crime ever perpetrated on this galaxy was not annihilating both the Resistance and the Republic. But you’re a killer too…”

Hux voice choked off. Leia went cold as the rage bubbled up inside her son.

“Ben no.” Leia’s words were echoed by Rey as she ran to his side.

“Stop it. Leave him alone.” Kari Hux was there by her cousin’s side, elbowing aside the Resistance fighters. She wasn’t alone though and Leia felt her happiness slipping through her fingers. They hadn’t noticed the new shuttle that had slid into the hangar and the personnel embarking from it. Leia felt her fears begin to realise.

Ben let Hux go and stepped back, his anger turning to shame.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered. Leia knew what he was thinking, Kylo Ren was still there inside him. She wanted to comfort her son but found herself beaten to the post by the youthful arms of Rey as the young woman held her son in a fierce hug. Leia grasped onto this happiness. Her son had found someone who made him better. She just wished…

“I’m afraid General Hux is right,” a new voice said. Leia sucked in a breath as a shiver coursed through her.

_No. Not yet. Let me get him away from here, please._ She didn’t know who she spoke to but it didn’t really matter. Her shoulders sagged. She was very familiar with this voice and she wished she wasn’t hearing it.

“The New Republic has given me a directive to take General Hux, Captain Phasma and Kylo Ren of the First Order into custody,” Admiral Statura said.


	45. Chapter 45

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long. I hope it's worth the wait.

There was silence at first. Stiff postures and sideways glances were intermingled with scowls and gasps. Admiral Statura knew his pronouncement would not be received with shouts of joy on some fronts but it appeared to have been met with all round disapproval. He raised his chin as he looked at the General, resisting the urge to step back amidst the relative safety of the squad of Republic guards and Resistance soldiers he’d brought with him. A flash of defiance in her eyes caught him off guard but then she bowed her head and nodded.  

Oh yes, he could understand why the General wouldn’t want her son taken into custody, and nor would Phasma and Hux want to be arrested either, but there were certain others he had not expected to be…dismayed by the arrest.

Statura should have obeyed the urge to step back amidst his squad. The tall chrome clad Captain Phasma whipped out a blaster and aimed it straight for his head. As did the Twilek. Statura waved a hand and his squad also lifted their blasters. Captain Phasma and the Twilek didn’t back down. This could get nasty. Phasma had a fearsome reputation.

No-one moved.

Statura had hoped the presence of the Jedi as well as his squad would quell any defiance but the Jedi didn’t seem inclined. Perhaps they were concentrating on Kylo Ren. He was the most dangerous, but then his relationship with the Jedi seemed to have changed if what he’d heard was right.

The young Jedi, Rey, moved in front of Kylo Ren and placed a hand on her sabre, as though she were protecting him. Statura felt his first real prickle of fear. He was missing something here? He understood why Master Skywalker might not move against his nephew but he’d thought Rey and Kylo Ren were enemies, or at least not close friends. Hadn’t she put that long scar on his face and hadn’t he run her through.

A young woman he hadn’t noticed before (who looked the one who’d previously called herself Sabira Ren) leapt to her feet, ignited her lightsabre and pointed it at Hux.

“You can have the others but I’m taking him with me.” Hux’ eyes went wide and on reflex he stepped towards Phasma. Phasma didn’t move but Rey stepped between Sabira Ren and Hux, her hand still on her sabre.

“You’re not going anywhere and you’re not taking anyone with you.”

Sabira Ren snarled and leapt towards Rey. Kylo Ren pulled Rey back against him as though he were protecting her now and threw out a hand. Sabira Ren flew backwards and landed in a heap where she had started, her sabre switching off as it skidded across the floor.

Well that was interesting. Statura didn’t have any time to ponder it though. Or the silent tiff that Rey and Kylo Ren now seemed to be having if the glare from one and the apologetic and, dare he say besotted, gaze from the other was anything to go by.

General Hux took that moment to make a dash for it towards his shuttle. His cousin Kari and another First Order Officer he hadn’t noticed before ran after him. “Armitage, come back here,” Kari Hux yelled. “I won’t let you get away with this. You have to answer for what you’ve done.” Other guards and soldiers ran after them.

Sabira Ren picked herself up and ran after them as well, her sabre sliding back across the floor to her and picking it up as she ran.

“I want her arrested too,” Statura said. Sabira Ren had been the one to lead the attack on their base on the planet below.

Hux nearly made it to Statura’s shuttle. Kari grabbed a coat tail, causing him to stumble just enough for a Republic guard to cut him off. Funnily enough it was the other First Order officer who helped to take Hux down and keep him pinned, while Hux hurled obscenities. Sabira Ren looked at Hux for a moment then snarled and dodged around the clump of struggling bodies and made for the door of the shuttle, swinging her sabre at another guard who just managed to leap out of the way.

She might have made it too, except the ramp suddenly retracted and closed and she was left beating at the implacable durasteel hatch. She lifted her hand and closed her eyes but found herself toppling backwards and onto her derriere. Statura thought he saw Master Skywalker return his hand to his belt beneath his cloak but he couldn’t be sure.

The older woman that looked a bit like the young Jedi Rey walked gracefully towards Sabira Ren, who was now crying on the floor. Of one thing he was sure, this older woman had the look of a Jedi about her as well. Perhaps she would help subdue the young Knight of Ren.

The roar of engines caught his attention. He bit down on a curse. Maz Kanata was now in her ship and was taking off – except Phasma and the Twilek were also gone. They’d used the fuss with Hux and Sabira Ren to escape. 

“Hey, stop that ship. My prisoner is escaping.” The old smuggler was too fast though and her ship scooted out of the hangar before anyone had the chance to stop it. Statura pulled out his personal comm to send a message through to stop the civilian craft.

A heavy hand rested on his shoulder.

“I wouldn’t worry about old Maz,” a deep and gentle voice said. The touch was oddly comforting… and disconcerting.

“Ben. No.”

Who said that?

Statura was tired. Before he knew it his world was spiralling down into the simple comfort of sleep.

 

 

“Ben. What are you doing?” his mother railed. His uncle had a thundercloud above his head as well. Ben kept an arm around the Admiral’s waist as he slumped forward.

“He’s not hurt,” he muttered. “I need to get down to Sanjo and this can wait.”

“Yes but…you’re impossible sometimes.” Yes, he knew that. He also couldn’t let Rey get herself into trouble trying to defend him. He’d face whatever justice came his way but for now he could feel Sanjo’s pain growing and knew his student needed guidance if he was going to deal with this properly.

A Republic captain stepped forward. “Wait, if you are Kylo Ren then you have much to answer for.” Ben took a breath. He could do as he wished. He could sweep all resistance before him. Sanjo needed him. Rey needed him.

It was the same old trap.

_Consider your own ways Ben. They’re as important as what you fight for._

He wasn’t sure if the voice was his father’s or his grandfather’s. It was right though.

“Perhaps we should all go to the surface. Perhaps I can ease the surrender of a battalion of storm troopers and officers while we look for a young man’s sister,” he said.

The captain’s jaw muscles twitched and his eyes narrowed. Rey stepped forward.

“We really should go to the surface captain,” she said. Ben felt a surge of the force. He looked askance at her. He noticed his uncle’s deepening scowl as well but it mattered little. The captain nodded.

“Yes, that would be a good idea.” The captain walked off and began giving orders to the Republic Guards.

Uncle Luke huffed. “You two.” He waved a hand at the Admiral and the man jolted and stiffened starting to struggle. Ben helped the Admiral return to an upright position while he glared at Luke. He hated it when his uncle did that. Now he had to dance to the damn tune.

“Admiral. Steady there. You had a moment, nothing more.” The Admiral stood up straight. Ben moved away as the man straightened his tunic.

“Admiral. If you please, there is a crisis looming on the surface,” his uncle said. Ben could feel it again, that subtle twinge in the force. The only difference between Rey and Uncle Luke was that his uncle had a much more subtle and practiced touch. Ben felt his mouth dropped open as he watched Admiral Statura respond to the suggestion, nodding his head.

The Admiral looked about and saw the captain rounding up his forces to return to the boarding shuttle.

“Wait, what’s going on?” He spun around and stared up at Ben, his mouth open. Ben dredged up a smile as sweet as he could make it from…somewhere.

“I’m not going to run if that’s what you’re worried about Admiral,” Ben said.

“I think Captain Essau will be useful in returning General Hux and…Sabira Ren to the Republic,” his mother said, referring to the captain Rey had manipulated with the force.

“For now my son will help to smooth the surrender of First Order forces on the surface. Perhaps you would like to accompany us there,” she said.

Statura frowned. “But he’s under arrest.”

“I know but a few blaster wielding soldiers isn’t going to hold him is it. You need my brother and his Padawan for that.” Statura swallowed and cast a fearful glance at him. Ben winced, he would never get used to that, the gaping abyss or fear and distrust between him and all but a very few when his force ability came up. One of the few things the dark side had given him was the ability to shut out that level of discomfort. He sighed and reached for the force in whatever way it came. For now he’d deal with the distrustful looks.

There was one thing he could do to help allay other’s fear of him or at least their distrust.

“I promise I will stand before whatever court you have planned to answer for what I’ve done,” he said. He felt Rey’s alarm and his mother’s deepening pain.

“Ben,” Rey whispered and moved closer to him, protective. He loved her so much.

The Admiral’s look became sharp. “Are you resisting arrest?”

Ben sighed. He’d like to. “No, but…” His uncle interrupted.

“I also promise that my nephew will stand before the court of the Republic to answer for his crimes.”

Ben’s heart jolted. His uncle’s eyes engaged the Admiral with a steady look as he ignored all others. Ben reached out but his Uncle’s look was unfathomable and his mental shields were impeccable.

“I also make the same promise,” his mother said. Her chin was up but she didn’t meet his eyes. Still, he felt her strength in the force reaching out to him, willing him to trust her.

The Admiral considered this for some time. Ben could feel Rey’s tension building until it was ready to explode. He reached out to her in the force, willing her to be at peace. She moved a little closer to him and touched his hand. Their hands slipped into each others of their own accord.

The silence was interrupted by the buzzing of the comm. Poe Dameron flicked the channel open.

The highly animated voice of one ex-storm trooper came through.

“Is the General there? Master Luke. Rey.”

“Hey Finn, its Poe. What’s happening down there?”

Ben, had a flashback of the first time he’d noticed FN2187. Aeryrus Windu. Finn was definitely a better name. That whisper through the force that night back on Jakku to leave him be had been right. Ben shut out the other memories of that night. Was it really him who had given that order, who’d killed an old man…?

“She‘s alive. I don’t know how. She’s alive. He went straight to her, like he knew. She’s alive….what….We need help. She’s bad. I can’t believe it.”

“Finn. Wait a minute. What are you talking about?”

“Solia is alive. Sanjo knew where she was. He went straight to her. She’s alive but she’s in a bad way from the fall. She’s been lying here since they destroyed the surface….Sanjo, what is it…the bracelet…. Sanjo thinks it was the force block bracelet she had. I don’t know. It protected her from the dark side energy somehow…Sanjo wait…what…wait a minute. Poe, please we need help.”

Ben felt Rey’s initial confusion explode into hope and determination.

“Admiral, please. We have to go.”

The Admiral looked about at the expectant faces.

“A medical team needs to go…”

“I think it would not be wise for someone so young and force sensitive to face such an emotional upheaval without some guidance Admiral,” Luke said. The Admiral’s eyes flicked to Ben again. He schooled himself to calmness but couldn’t resist a little skim across the Admiral’s thoughts. The Admiral was having a very sensible thought. He did _not_ want “Kylo Ren” to be separated from the force users who could control him.

The Admiral nodded.

“Alright. For now we shall go to the surface.”

His uncle’s enigmatic smile and nod, nearly made him laugh. Well that at least was normal. When could he not remember his uncle being all mysterious? That usually only happened when there was something going on in the force.

And of course his uncle wasn’t letting on.

It took longer than everyone expected to sort out who was going where before Ben and Rey were finally in his uncle’s tandem X-wing and heading down to the planet with R2D2. The Admiral wasn’t happy to be stuck on the Falcon while one of his ‘prisoners’ flew off in another ship but Chewie was being cantankerous about letting him on the old bucket. The Admiral’s own shuttle was being used to transfer Hux and Gem to the Republic battlecruiser. Poe, Mitaka and some of the Resistance soldiers were staying to oversee repairs and further developments with the Finalizer. Ben was amused by how easily Mitaka carried on despite the change in command. Would he change his allegiance as well?

Ben had thought it safer to render Gem unconscious so she couldn’t use the force to escape. Not an easy task, given that she had some knowledge of his technique but he succeeded with a push from Luke. The Admiral hadn’t liked that but conceded that there was all round relief among the Resistance soldiers and Republic guards that a force sensitive Knight of Ren wasn’t going to be left in their care without some kind of precaution.

“Ben, can I say something,” Rey said through their comm unit.

“Go ahead.”

“I think I know why it was that the Admiral thought Phasma and Imri had left with Maz.”

Ben laughed. Phasma and Imri had snuck off to hide in his command shuttle. A pity it was still not able to fly.

“You mean you know my uncle had something to do with it.”

Rey was silent for moment. He gave the bond a nudge and Rey’s words poured across their connection.

_Actually, I think it was my mother who pulled that one off._

“What.”

“Shhh.” _I think my mother knew Phasma from before somehow._

_How could she, she’s been Snoke’s prisoner for nearly ten years._

_I don’t know but there’s something there I can feel it._

Ben could feel Rey’s curiosity turning over and smiled before her mind turned back to the task at hand.

They flew to the location Finn had provided in silence. Ben spent his time drawing on the force for that calm – a calm that came so easily now that there was no reaching darkness in the back of his mind. There was no sense of falling, of groundlessness, no nameless fears to be battled, telling him he wasn’t meant for the light. The light that now flowed through him unimpeded, untwisted, unlike anything he’d felt before.

A sense of weightlessness overtook him. The weight of Snoke tethered to his mind was gone. It gave him pause. Freedom was a heavy thing but it was light compared Snoke’s dark weight of endless rage and unsatisfied want for power. He had been no more than a tool in Snoke’s grasping hands and now…

“I see them,” Rey said. Ben reached out to Rey and got the distinct impression his uncle was crowding her mind with him. Ben felt a dark stab of possessiveness disrupt their bond.

_Remember Sanjo_

Ben’s mouth fell open. He’d never heard his uncle’s voice so clearly before.

_I heard you,_ he said in reply.

Nothing

_Uncle Luke, I heard you_

_Ben_

_Am I hearing you through Rey?_

_Snoke is gone. You’re hearing us directly._

It was his mother’s voice this time.

_I can hear you both, truly hear you._

Ben nearly ditched the X-wing in his growing surprise and elation. Just in time he returned his concentration to the task at hand. He looked down at Finn standing sentinel over Sanjo where he crouched beside a prone figure on the ground. He reached out to Sanjo and felt a maelstrom of anger, pain, hope and fear. He felt Rey reach out and draw on the force, pulling it to Solia. It was tempting to sink into the feeling of the light she drew but he had another task.

Ben let himself connect to Sanjo. The boy couldn’t feel or hear him. Not yet. Instead he tried to gauge the dynamic of that maelstrom of emotions. Oh, he recognised the fear and rage and despair too well. His heart sank. Sanjo was going to need someone to just be there and he was about to be arrested. There was something Ben needed to do and do fast. He needed to find Sanjo’s fault lines, the cracks where the dark side could get in. He needed to make this clear to his uncle and to Rey. Sanjo could break just as easily as he did if someone were to exploit those fault lines.

 

Finn watched the X-Wing land as the Falcon came in just behind it. His mind was in a whirl. As far as he could tell, they were too late now to save her but Sanjo insisted otherwise. Her skin was cold and covered in scratches and flecks of debris. He tried to brush the soot and other flecks from her skin but it only smeared her face so he stopped. Sanjo held her hand in his and crouched next to her with his other hand fisted his hair, his words interspersed with tears and snuffles.

“Solia. It’s me….Solia. It’s Sanjo…Come back.” His shoulders shook as he bowed his head. Finn put a hand on Sanjo’s shoulder. He felt so useless. He could do nothing with the force. He didn’t even know how to access it. No-one had taught him anything about the force. A spark of anger surfaced. Why couldn’t he be trained? He could use it for good, he knew he could.

The huge figure of Kylo Ren appeared in his peripheral vision. He looked up and quashed the shiver that gripped him. Whatever Rey thought of this man, to him Kylo Ren would always be his former feared commander and tormentor. He searched for Rey and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her.

It seemed Kylo Ren had no thought for Finn though. His sights were focussed on Sanjo and Solia. He couldn’t quite suppress a grimace when Kylo Ren spoke.

“Sanjo.” The boy looked up, his face streaked with tears and his eyes were dark.

“We left her.” Sanjo’s sights fixed on Rey and his anger pulsed out. “We could have saved her.”

“If you let us we’ll try to save her now,” Kylo Ren said.

Sanjo’s face became a snarl as he watched Rey approach. “Make her go away.” Finn saw Rey’s face pale but she remained calm. Kylo Ren knelt on the other side of Solia from where Sanjo knelt beside her.

“She has to be here Sanjo. She has to fix this too.” Sanjo glared up his new teacher.

“Fix it how.” One huge hand reached across and gripped Sanjo’s shoulder. Finn moved back. He found himself moving over to where Rey stood. There was something bright about her. Not bright in the sense that he could see it with his eyes…it was different, luminous in an ethereal way. He felt Master Luke beside him and someone else. Someone who felt different but familiar. He felt his skin prickle and turned to see a woman’s assessing gaze upon him. The familiarity became obvious when she took up a position next to Rey. The woman’s gaze turned away, focussing on Solia but Finn still felt as though in that moment she had seen beneath the surface of his bravado to the scared kid that still hid underneath.

He’d been distracted for a moment but Sanjo reached out and gripped Solia’s shoulder.

“I could have saved her but she…” Sanjo’s gaze flicked to Rey like a knife … “stopped me. I could have saved her.” Finn frowned. He still remembered that moment clearly.

“No Sanjo. We would have all died. It was catching us too fast.”

“I don’t care what you say. I could have saved her.”

Kylo Ren looked up at Rey and the older woman. “Is there still time.”

“Yes,” the two women said together. “We need his help though. His link to her is important. He must help us,” the older woman said.

“My mother is right,” Rey said. Finn felt a jolt, this was Rey’s mother. Made sense. He’d ask later about where she’d turned up from. For now, another jolt had gone through him.

“You can save her,” Finn said.

“We’ll try,” the older woman said.

“She saved my life so I will do what I can to save hers,” Rey said.

Rey closed her eyes. Finn felt it then, a sharp spike in the light around Rey, like the luminosity had intensified.

“What are you doing,” Sanjo demanded.

“Sanjo. Trust the force,” Kylo Ren said. His voice was so gentle it was tempting to think of him as…someone else. Someone who reminded him of the General and her softness. Finn swallowed. The memory of Kylo Ren seeing him disobey his command on Jakku and letting him go flashed in his mind and Finn realised something. If he was honest with himself, he was holding onto something just like Sanjo was. He hated Kylo Ren for what he’d done but as he watched him Finn knew this wasn’t really Kylo Ren. In his place it seemed that…not that Finn was forgetting anything he’d done, it was just that… He breathed in and out and felt a weight let go. This wasn’t Kylo Ren because it was Ben Solo. He bowed his head. It was crazy. So many of his fears seemed to melt in that moment. He realised the huge man he’d always been so afraid of…was…just a man. A man who was once a monster but now…now something was different. Or maybe there was something different about himself. He was no longer holding onto something that would only eat away at him.

Finn returned to Sanjo’s side.

“Sanjo. You have to forgive Rey. If she can help Solia then you have to let her. You have to forgive her. Don’t hold on to this hate.” He caught Ben Solo looking at him and his breath froze in his throat. Except that Finn saw that the enquiring stare of Ben Solo was not the cold stare of Kylo Ren. Finn felt a little smile curve his lips and nodded at the man he’d once been so afraid of. A smile flicked at the corner of Ben’s mouth too but then they turned back to Sanjo. He needed them.

Sanjo looked at Ben for a long moment then slumped and nodded and let Ben pull him away from his sister just enough so Rey and her mother could come closer. Rey extended a hand and placed it on Solia’s temple then she extended a hand to Sanjo. Sanjo stared at it, sullen for a moment then sighed and took her hand.

That’s when the light really shone, exploded even, and Solia took a shaky breath.

 

It had been three days since they had brought Solia back from the ravaged surface of Tyrad. It was the saddest thing she’d seen. Now devoid of any life it was little more than rock and ashes. The First Order crew had surrendered without a fight after Ben had informed the two captains that had taken command of the situation. They seemed to accept it coming from Ben. The crew and troopers had either returned to work on the Finalizer or were shipped out to various holding locations.

Rey’s mind drifted back. It had been one of the most wonderful things in her life, pulling the force to Solia and feeling it restore her fading spirit. But it wasn’t quite enough, as though it were just a wind whistling through an abandoned ship on Jakku. It was her mother who had known what to do next. Solia’s life had almost gone when her mother had somehow given a tiny portion of her own life to Solia. That portion had glowed in the whirlwind of the force that Rey had brought, like a spark in pure oxygen. Rey wondered if it had left behind a link between Solia and her mother and suppressed the tiny inkling of jealousy. She wanted that bond with her mother but she would not begrudge her friend nor her return to life. To have Solia back, to have fixed her mistake…

Solia still floated in the bacta tank. They would take her out today, her features clear of damage from the flying debris and her body now working as it should, ongoing effects of her injuries would be small and most likely disappear in time. Rey would be glad to have her friend back…and Sanjo’s friendship as well.

Rey’s joy had not lasted. The moment they arrived back a larger force was present to take Ben away. And it was Ben they took away because if it had been Kylo Ren he would have fought and escaped. Ben had simply bowed his head and yielded to his arrest. Rey had wanted him to escape, resist, something but he had made a promise.

Rey had tried to stop the soldiers from cuffing Ben but Luke and Ben had both restrained her. Her mother had been there to hold her but she still felt like half of her was being taken away. If it hadn’t been for Ben’s calm reassurance coming across the bond she might have done something she would regret later.

She had just found her mother but now she was going to lose Ben. She refused to think of the likely outcome of whatever trial they had planned but it wouldn’t be tempered with the understanding of how profoundly Ben had changed.

The problem was his crimes were still there. A picture of Han in that awful moment on Starkiller came to her and it ripped her again what had happened. It was a pain they would both carry for the rest of their lives. Rey brushed away a tear. His crimes were terrible, she must remember this but…Kylo Ren under Snoke’s control had done those things. He was Ben Solo now.

Rey sighed. A name change wouldn’t be enough to stop the cries for his…she didn’t want to think it.

Phasma was gone. Phasma had escaped on an old ship from a second smaller hangar while they had been on Tyrad. She’d left some message for Ben but he wouldn’t tell her what it was. He guarded it too well in his mind every time Rey tried to find out.

Hux was already in the brig of the Republic cruiser and he laughed when Ben was locked in a cell nearby. Gem had also been locked in a cell then woken by Luke. She had made a number of threats and recriminations until Ben had ordered her to silence. It seemed he still had some control there.

Rey had tried to calm herself, to let her mother hold her but she couldn’t help the feeling of betrayal as Leia, her face implacable, had accompanied her son to an uncertain fate. They were letting him be taken away.

For three days she had been kept from visiting him and he had kept her from all but a foot in the door of his mind.

_I must face what I’ve done. They have a right to judge me._

_No. You can’t let them. They only want to use you for their damn political ends._

At least he let her tell him about how Solia was improving and how Luke and her mother had decided it would be a good thing for her mother to begin training Finn. Rey had been so very proud. They had trained as a group, her and Luke, her mother and Finn. Except Sanjo had sullenly returned to Luke’s tutelage while Ben remained in his cell.

Rey found herself spending more and more time in the med unit watching over Solia. The time she spent with her mother was precious but she had felt the need to draw back. She told herself that Finn and her mother needed time to get to know each other as master and student but she knew it was more than that. She was losing people again and flashes of the moment in her vision on Takodana when she’d been abandoned kept coming to her, tormenting her. Would they all be taken from her again?

“They still won’t let you see Ben either,” Sanjo said next to her. Lost in her thoughts she hadn’t felt or heard him come in.

Rey shook her head. It was so unfair.

“We have to do something,” Sanjo said.

“He won’t let us,” Rey said.

“So.”

Rey stared at Solia’s face behind the breathing mask. Perfect and almost pristine submerged in the bacta that was bringing her to life again. Something had been ticking over in her mind. While she’d trained on her own and in the main group while Luke lead out their exercises, it had been forming, coalescing into something more than a random array of ludicrous thoughts and actions.

“I might have a plan,” she said.

Sanjo nodded. “Do you think it’ll work?”

“Maybe,” she said. “If the force is with us.”

Another presence, another voice.

“If you need any help with that plan.”

Rey turned. “Finn.”

“Your mother is very big on forgiveness and thinks I need to practice it some more. Must run in the family.”

Rey smiled and reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. “I like that you’re her student.”

Finn chuckled. “She’s a sweet lady but don’t be fooled, she’s as tough as Phasma.” He muttered something more under his breathe that sounded like “tougher maybe”.

“Whatever it is, we should do it before they send them to Chandrila.”

 

Ben sat in his cell and reached out to the light side of the force. He let it wash through his body like it hadn’t done for a very long time. He felt it curl about the darkness within him…and settle together. He accepted this. He’d never be free of the dark side but he wasn’t going to let it dominate.

The crazy thing was it felt right, like he was meant to be like this. Weak and strong. Broken but mended. Of the light but marked by the dark. Always struggling with one or the other.

Rey was similar but not the same. It was odd, but the darkness within her was stronger than it was in him, yet she reached for the light, always. Like it was her water of life.

His mind shifted to Sanjo. The boy was far from the dark right now but there was one fault line that could be easily manipulated – Solia. That they had found her again and saved her life was a good thing but…Ben feared she would be his weakness. He reminded himself that his uncle and his mother had been each other’s strength over the years. Solia was force sensitive too. Force sensitive siblings can be a strength. When he concentrated on the issue through the force he wasn’t so sure though. Only time would tell.

He felt a nudge at his consciousness. It wasn’t Rey this time.

_Uncle_

_Ben_

_What can I expect?_

Silence for a moment and then it was like a pulsing ache through the force.

_The most likely outcome will be execution._

Ben’s heart seized but on reflex he calmed and maintained his presence in the force.

_What. Why?_

_Politics. Why else._

Ben could feel his uncle’s bitterness across the force that he would never have shown if they were speaking face to face. 

_It’s not just politics Uncle. I hurt people. I…I killed people._

_I know. I argued for exile on Ahch-To. Hard labour rebuilding the temple._

Ben smiled again. _A nice thought._

Growing worries crowded in on him. The problem was there was a vision he’d had on Ahch-To that told him about a different fate. However this went down, it wasn’t himself he was worried about.

_Rey will not take it well. There is darkness in her too you know. If she were to reach for it…_

_I know. I’ve felt her use it on more than one occasion._

Ben straightened for a moment as his eyes focussed on the inside of his cell again. Damn it if that wasn’t true. He reached out to his uncle again.

_Why don’t you stop her?_

_Like I did with you,_ his uncle shot back, the self-castigation obvious in his emotions.

Ben winced. _True_ , he conceded.

_She is more determined to follow the light than anyone I have taught but not because I preached that to her. She expects it of herself. She chooses the light, for herself, and without even knowing why she should. It brings her balance. We Skywalkers are the ones who are so full of light yet fall to the dark._

_You never fell to the dark._

_Oh really, you think I was meditating in the light on Ahch-To for six years. If Rey hadn’t turned up when she did…anyway, we’re getting side tracked._

Ben felt his mouth drop open. His uncle was so strong. Guilt for what he’d done to his uncle struck at him and the darkness was there ready to pounce. Ben had to believe he could overcome the darkness, like his grandfather had. So much had changed now that Snoke wasn’t there to twist and obscure things. If his uncle and his grandfather could overcome the darkness then he could too. He buried his hopes as Luke continued.  

_There was something I’ve been talking over with Galena. Something you’d have to agree to of course._

_Galena_

_What else do you want me to call her?_

Ben smiled. _Have you talked to mum?_

_No, she can’t know. At least not the details._

He shook his head. _What about Rey._

_I didn’t want to get her involved._

_Oh…right._

_What?_

_Nothing._

_Ben._

_I think Rey is planning something too._

 

 


	46. Chapter 46

“Rey. What are you doing?” Ben’s voice sounded odd through the microphone in the transparisteel door at the front of his cell. His arms were folded as he scowled down at her where she was emerging from the floor. He was dressed again in his mended Jedi robes. She liked him in those robes.

“You should have known they weren’t going to keep me out forever,” Rey said. Ben’s efforts to maintain the scowl on his face dissolved into a smile. She pulled the last of her leg out of the floor panel. She’d finally crawled her way through the Republic ship to the corridor between the cells where Ben was being held. Republic ships were built differently to Imperial and First Order ships but there were still basic similarities that could be exploited. She’d found a way to get into Ben’s cell on this little reconnaissance trip, with the discreet use of a lightsabre.

She stood and dusted herself off before she smoothed her hair back. She suspected there might be a lock poking out somewhere but she couldn’t be worried about mussed hair right now.

“Also this is what you get for ignoring me,” Rey groused. Ben’s mouth dropped open for a moment, his eyes widening as a flush spread across his cheeks. His gaze slid down as he closed his mouth and began biting his lip.

“Stop that or I’ll have to come in there and kiss you,” Rey said. His eyes shot back to her, dark, enigmatic, and this time Rey felt the warmth spreading across her own cheeks.

“If only you would,” he said in a low voice. Now she was biting her lip. She reached out to the transparisteel door of his cell but was met only with the cold indifference of its status as a barrier. Ben reached up and placed his hand in the same place as hers on the inside of the door.

“I wasn’t doing it to hurt you,” he said. “I know they’re going to sentence me to death and…” He swallowed and looked down.

“I’m going to rescue you whether you think I should or not,” she said. She wasn’t going to let them win.

“Rey. You need to think about this some more. I’m only being judged for what I’ve done. It’s what I deserve.” The physical pain of even such a thought was unbearable. Rey wanted to reach in and shake him. Where was this defeatist attitude coming from? It wasn’t him. She had to shake him out of it somehow.

“Ben, you’ve changed. I know that. Everyone knows that. You turned away from the First Order and rejected the dark side even before we killed Snoke. You’re not under his control anymore.”

Ben scowled. “I see the way people look at me. I’m still the monster to them Rey.”

Rey felt his despair like a kick in the guts. They only saw Darth Vader in him. They always would.

Ben shook his head.

“Rey, can’t you see. Who I am. What I’ve done. It will always follow me.”

Rey nearly stamped her foot. “Well, Obi-Wan Kenobi might be my grandfather but I’m not Obi-Wan Kenobi. Or my other grandfather – you know who…”

“Rey no. Don’t say it. Don’t say his name. You’re a Kenobi. That’s all.”

Rey pressed her lips together. It was true that very few knew she was also a Palpatine but Ben was right, it was better not to say that where their conversation could be overheard.

“I can’t deny who I am but that doesn’t mean it defines my life. You’re not Darth Vader, Ben. No-one’s ever the same as their parents, let alone their grandparents.”

Ben smiled down at her, his gaze tender at first then darkening to something undefined that made her feel warm all over, as though someone was messing with the ship’s environmental systems. Rey looked down. She chewed her lip and fiddled with a thread poking out of the hem of her jacket.

“I’m still going to rescue you.” She glanced up and her heart skipped a beat. He was doing it again, trying to look serious in spite of the grin dancing about his mouth.

“I know.”

Rey laughed but then she turned away, she didn’t want him to see the sudden tears in her eyes. A useless gesture. He could feel them, no matter how much she tried to keep her shields up.

“What’s going on?” A voice rang out down the corridor. “There are no visitors allowed for this prison…how did you get in there?”

Rey dashed the tears away and turned to the man striding down the passageway, holding his blaster out front. She forced a smile.

“What? That can’t be five minutes,” she said.

“What are you talking about,” the guard snapped.

Rey fixed the man with a stare. “You said we had five minutes. Remember. You’re very kind, letting me talk to Ben for just a little while.”

The guard slowed and he stared at her, a slight frown on his face. Rey let the force smooth over his anger.

“It will be alright. You can walk me out now. Thank you Lieutenant.” The guard blinked.

“Of course. Certainly Miss Kenobi,” the guard said.

Ben scowled at her.

_Stop using the force to manipulate people. Luke won’t be happy._

_Only if you tell him._

_You’re not to get involved like this. It’s not the Jedi way. Justice must come first._

_And what about compassion,_ she shot back.

Ben lowered his eyes. She could feel his emotions like a stormy sea on Ahch-To. He couldn’t hide them.

_I love you_ , Ben whispered in her mind again as the guard glared at him, holding his weapon like a shield in case he did…something. Rey coughed. The guard smiled at her and waved his hand towards the door. She smiled back and nodded. She glanced one last time at Ben. She’d done what she’d come to do before she’d even started this expedition to find Ben’s cell. She looked into his eyes.

_I love you too._

 

 

Rey sat on the floor of the Falcon in the lounge area. It was the only place she really felt at home now. Chewie was making some adjustments to the hyper drive. His tinkering and growled complaining in the background was oddly comforting. Rey made a few more adjustments to her lightsabre. She needed a powerful spark and this was the only way she was going to get it without causing her plans to all go up in flames. A very bad idea if what she planned was going to work.

Rey scowled as she thought back to this morning. Someone had tampered with the prison cell ejection system. In an emergency the cells were supposed to become escape pods and eject. A mechanical bypass had been inserted, which she’d removed. She’d taken her time to check that everything was working, using the force as little as possible so as not to alert certain people what she was up to. At least now the system was working. It still bothered her that someone had done this. The implications…

She felt Luke’s warmth in the force for a brief moment. She didn’t try to hide from him what she was doing. She just left him with an impression that she would not be dissuaded. Luke had said nothing about her early morning foray. He was planning something too but as always, she had no way of knowing what he was thinking when he didn’t want her to. She felt guilty knowing she hadn’t reached out to Luke much at all lately, now that she had discovered her bond with Ben. Luke didn’t seem to mind though and Ben needed her more right now.

Except when Rey had reached out to Ben again she’d found that he was concentrating on someone else, most likely Sanjo. The young Dastronian had some talent for shielding and linking but, unlike the telekinesis, it was uncompliant to the boy’s wishes and commands. In fact, it had taken all of Ben’s efforts to help Sanjo listen to him through the force now that they were on different ships.

Rey wasn’t sure why Ben felt it was so necessary to push Sanjo in this direction but it only seemed fair, given that it was easy for Ben to communicate with her and his family. He needed to be able to link and communicate with Sanjo as well.

Ben still wasn’t letting her in fully though, in spite of her grouch to him when she’d made her secret visit. He was happy to hear her thoughts about her mother and Finn and Solia and Sanjo and how their father would meet them at Chandrila but he got evasive about himself.

Rey knew there were things Ben wasn’t telling her but she didn’t push. She just wanted to explore and strengthen their link.

When he wasn’t busy.

The sabre in her hand softly clicked and she smiled. It would give her what she needed. She looked down at it. The vision she’d had the first time she’d touched it came to mind. Even now the sabre still held the power to unsettle her in spite of her greater understanding of that first vision. She smoothed her thumb over the sabre’s cool surface, marvelling at its workmanship. The glowing blue blade of power would remind her of it’s past.

Rey smoothed her thumb across the ignition button. The sabre sparked as she had planned…

…and flared, uncontrolled, like exploding flame. The space inside the falcon was on fire. Rushing flames. Crushing pressure. The cold of space.

She dropped her sabre and it clunked to the floor, lying innocently as though nothing had happened. She looked about, her heart racing. Everything was normal.

Rey took a breath and picked it up with a shaky hand. She touched the ignition again and this time it sparked as she had planned and that was it.

Rey breathed and closed her eyes, trying to focus on what she’d just seen. Flames, like an explosion. Something was going to go wrong with her plans. Rey closed her eyes and breathed and let the force show her. The images flashing before her mind.

She opened her eyes. She’d planned to use the cell ejection system to rescue Ben but something was going to go wrong. She shook her head. She didn’t know what. Whatever it was she had to be ready. She started to look for her data pad. She should write the vision down as Luke had taught her. It was important.

A presence touched her. Her mother was coming.

“Rey, sweetheart.” Rey smiled but then her smile faltered. It had not been quite as easy as she’d dreamed to reconnect with her mother. They both had emotional issues to deal with. Rey began to understand that the calm and even exterior her mother projected covered a deep pain that was nowhere near healed just for being with her daughter and free of Snoke’s prison. The flashes of guilt and rage Rey had glimpsed had frightened her.

Rey was worried about telling her mother too much about what happened after she’d been taken away and of her life on Jakku. She didn’t want to cause her any more pain.

Luke seemed to be the only one who could help her mother work out whatever was simmering below the surface and Rey felt a little disappointed. She wanted to reach out to her mother and be there for her but there was much of herself she kept closed off.

Perhaps her mother was reaching out to her now.

“Mother.”

Rey relaxed at the feeling of warmth her mother projected to her but the sabre in her hand reminded her of the urgency of what she’d just seen. She debated telling her about the flash vision she’d just seen but argued with herself that she would have to tell her mother about her plans and then that would add more complexities and this was supposed to be a simple rescue that wouldn’t get anyone else in trouble.

Rey watched her sit on the floor opposite her in the same cross legged fashion.

“How’s it going with Finn,” Rey said. Her mother smiled.

“Good. I think he’s just figured out that the force doesn’t make things easier though. He feels that people are treating him differently now and he’s disappointed. It’s not coming as easy as he thought either. His harsh upbringing is not helpful but at least he survived with normal human emotions in spite of Hux’ efforts.”

Rey nodded, a smile on her face. If Finn could survive then so could she.

Ben on the other hand, his mind had never been his own. At least she and Finn had been allowed that – at least for the most part. She couldn’t let them take this away from Ben, the opportunity to be himself without Snoke in his head. She buried her plans though and looked at her mother.

“What about you? Did you survive,” Rey said. Her mother smiled.

“Knowing you were still there was all I needed.”

Rey smiled. “Maybe that’s why I waited for so long. I knew you were still there too.”

Her mother reached out and stroked Rey’s hair. Rey leaned into her hand.

They were quiet for a moment then her mother sighed.

“There is something I need to teach you if you’re going to succeed with this plan to rescue Ben.”  

Rey’s head shot up. “Who said...”

 Her mother laughed. “We all know you’re up to something, at least those of us with the force. You need this though.” She was holding something that looked familiar. A bracelet.

“Solia let me borrow this.” Rey gasped. The stones, once green, had turned dark when Solia had been caught in the attack by the Rellian Project on the devastated planet below them.

“What?”

“You’ll need it to cover your tracks for your little break and enter.” Rey could only stare.

“I’m sorry dear. There are too many people here who love you and want to help you. Now listen and this might just work.”

“Might work. I’ve planned every…”

“And make sure Ben is linked in too while I show you.”

“Ben. What’s this about?” Rey felt her skin prickle.

“This is a natural force block but they intend to use an artificial one to keep Ben contained and to stop anyone, like yourself, from rescuing him. We have to overcome it or he will die.”

“What! How do you know this?”

Her mother waved a dismissive hand. “They were silly enough to think they could keep this sort of information from Luke. People are so inexperienced with Jedi these days.”

Rey’s mouth dropped open. She should have known. Ben was right. They would only ever see him as Darth Vader and want to kill him. Well, it wouldn’t stop her from doing what she had planned. Even, if she couldn’t use the force she could still use her brains.

“Now. It took me nearly ten years to finally realise how easy it was to overcome Snoke’s force blocked cell. I only waited around to find out where you were and then kill him the next time he visited. Unfortunately Luke was the next person who visited. I nearly killed the poor man before I realised who it was.”

Rey stared at her mother. “What!” Her mother looked a little shame faced, which was the last thing Rey wanted. She waved a dismissive hand. “Never mind. What did you want to teach me?” Rey was glad to see the smile return to her mother’s face as she continued.

“Now, I need you to open your mind to me Rey. I need you to cling to me as hard as you can. Keep Ben there still…”

“Wait, Solia put this on Ben on Dastron. She showed me how to take it off then. You just have to feel around the field created by the misaligned force bonds between the crystals. I think it was my bond with Ben that helped me see it…”

Rey stopped when she realised her mother was staring at her with an open mouth and wide eyes.

“I see.” Her mother chewed her lip for a moment. “You used the force to take it off Ben…but he was the one force blocked right.”

“I guess so.”

“Interesting.” Her mother thought for a moment.

“If I put it on you, can you take it off again?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t actually worn it myself. Ben put the force block ring on me but he was the one who took it back off.

“A ring.”

“It belonged to Sanjo, although I think he gave it to his father to take back to Dastron. It’s part of their royal heritage and he let it go to become a Jedi student.”

“Ahh.” Her mother thought about this for a moment.

“We’ll show each other then. The most important thing is that you remain linked to Ben while we do this. He has to know how this works.”

Something clicked. The vision she’d just seen. The force block. This was important – more important than her plans.

“Mother, something is going to go wrong. I feel it.”

Her mother nodded. “I know. We have to be prepared.” Rey nodded slowly – the force was telling them both something.

“Put that thing on my wrist,” Rey said as she reached out to Ben. Her mother grinned as a conspiratorial sparkle lit up her eyes.

 

 

Leia looked at the black hilt of her son’s lightsabre. She didn’t want to touch it. She wanted Luke to come and get it and take it away so she would never have to see it again. It represented everything that had gone wrong. The brutality that had infected Ben’s life since he was a baby in her womb. Her losses and griefs.

She breathed in and drew on the force for strength. She would appear cool and calm when the delegation from Chandrila arrived.

There was a knock at the door and in a panic she scooped up the lightsabre and stuffed it in her robes. She had chosen a flowing dress that wold remind the delegation that she was once a senator of the Republic. A dress that had lots of fabric folds and pockets.

Leia schooled her features to the implacable face she seemed to wear almost all the time nowadays. Something she had learnt in her first years as a Senator in the Imperial Senate.

“Come,” she said.

It was Poe. She relaxed again.

They both forced a smile in greeting. There was a moment of silence.

“Have you heard from Imri?” “How’s Ben doing?” They said at the same time then laughed.

They were silent again. Poe broke first.

“She sent me a message…untraceable of course.” Leia, suppressed a smile – just in case anyone was wondering. No! Imri Hallomy wasn’t going to give herself away – or her new partner in crime.

“You know I want you to keep in contact with her,” Leia said. Poe nodded, as his gaze averted, thinking of Imri no doubt.

“She’s very particular about her freedom,” Poe said. “The First order. The Republic. It’s all the same to her. Even the Resistance – if it technically exists now – was more restrictive than she was prepared to deal with.”

Leia nodded. She knew what it was like to love someone who didn’t like too much structure or constraint.

There was another knock on the door, a young Republic officer.  

“The Senator has arrived.”

“Oh, of course.” She glanced at Poe. “We better go.”

The young officer coughed and Leia stopped, a frown crinkling her forehead.

“I’m sorry General but the Senator is here. He wishes to meet with you on the Finalizer.”

Leia’s frown turned to a scowl. Something was up. She could feel it. She closed her eyes for a moment and let the force guide her. When she opened them she schooled herself to calmness.

“If that is their wish. Please show them in.”

Leia looked about. She had taken up a temporary office on the Finalizer while various aspects of the First Order surrender had been hammered out. The surrender of the Finalizer to the Republic being one of those conditions. Her presence here was as much a symbolic act as a practical one.

Another one had been the voluntary defection of any crew or trooper to the Republic while they continued to effect repairs. She had been assured that the Finalizer would be ready to travel through hyperspace within the day. She had kept up on developments of the surrender via hologram. This time she would not leave Ben – for anything.

The problem was that their forces and the First Order forces were too disparate. Only a few ships remained over Ahch-To while they were repaired. Some had been sent to Chandrila and others to Corellia where they would begin the repurposing of their systems for service in the Republic.

She could feel it though. Alliances were changing. The Republic was in danger of being bitten off by smaller regimes while their forces were in flux. The return to Chandrila to rebirth the Republic had its positives and negatives. And of course Coruscant, the Rancor in the room, still held power for many sectors.

She looked out the window to the Resistance vessel where Ben was. He should be here with her. He should be a rallying point for First Order forces to return to the Republic. Instead he was in a cell on a prison ship.

“General.”

Leia let her gaze drop away from Ben’s prison and turned to Poe.

“It’ll be alright.”

Poe nodded and turned to leave.

“You should stay,” she said. Poe raised an eyebrow. “It would be good for you,” she said. Especially if he was going to take her place when the time was right. Poe nodded but didn’t say anything.

“And to make sure I don’t do something stupid,” she muttered as her eyes were drawn back to the prison ship and Ben.

The delegation consisted of only three members. A new senator and two officials. So many people she had known had perished in the Hosnian system. So much sadness in her life.

“Senator Argueld. Welcome to the Finalizer,” she said.

“Ah yes. Thank you General Organa.”

Leia glanced at Poe, who stepped forward. “This is Commander Poe Dameron,” she said.

Leia got the impression that the Senator was not happy to see Poe but Leia was not in an obliging mood so ignored any hints about his presence.

The senator, Chandrilan by birth, was inclined towards intricate headdresses and colourful attire. The problem was his dour face did not match his style of dress.

Leia cared little for what he looked like, she could feel his duplicity oozing like grease from within him. He was full of his own self-importance and disdain for others. The Republic was now relying on those who might not have risen through the ranks had their betters not been murdered by the First Order.

“This is Ynka Sada, my aide and Shir Vey from the Justice Department.”

Leia nodded to both of the Senators companions. It seemed to her that Ynka Sada was sadly wasted on Senator Argueld. She sensed intelligence and frustration held in check by a keen desire to help others. Shir Vey was kind but intimidated. Leia knew where she was going to get any sense from and it wasn’t likely to be the new Chandrilan Senator. Leia ensured the two companions both felt welcomed.

“Now what can I do for you Senator,” Leia said. The Senator steepled his hands in front of him and looked down his nose at her as though he were a school teacher about to rebuke a child. Leia simply cultivated an amicable façade in reply.

“I am here to interrogate the prisoners. There seems to have been a distinct lack of questioning in this case.”

Leia smiled.

“We’re occupied at the moment with the surrender and assimilation of First Order personnel and resources and as yet we have not had anyone arrive with the official capacity to undertake an interrogation of this nature. Until today that is.” Leia nodded at Shir – who paled and glanced at the Senator.

Senator Argueld coughed. “Or someone who might not be biased in regards to the prisoners.”

Leia let the force take her ire and reinstated the amicable façade as her silent response.

Senator Argueld looked uncomfortable for a moment but then smiled too sweetly. Leia wasn’t sure how he’d managed to become a senator. No-one else in the running maybe.

“I have taken the liberty of organising an interrogation myself – here.”

Leia allowed one raised eyebrow. She knew Poe would take it as a sign not to react yet. This was “irregular” to say the least but she was more inclined to let Argueld stew about the remainder of her thoughts. She didn’t react to the amused twitch of Ynka’s mouth as the silence grew awkward.

“Obviously my companion from the Justice Department will supervise the interrogation.”

Leia let the silence hang for a moment longer before she made her one word query “Supervise.”

Argueld shifted in his seat. “I intend to ask the questions General. Shir Vey is here to ensure everything is done in accordance with proper procedure. It must be admissible in court.”

Leia still did not feel inclined to put the senator at ease so she remained silent. “Of course, if there have been any informal interrogations the recordings must be handed over to the Justice Department and any copies deleted.”

Leia could feel her ire growing and for once she wasn’t sure if she was capable of letting it go.

“You may have access to all recordings within the prisoner’s cells,” Leia granted, allowing it to sound begrudged. She was sorry for whoever would have to trawl through three days of her son and Gem meditating in the force and Hux swinging from sleeping to grouching about the food and accommodation to singing to crying and to staring at the ceiling. That her son had communicated through the force to Rey, Luke and herself at various times in the last three days wouldn’t make for thrilling footage in a security recording.

She had purposely disallowed any interrogation and little contact for the reasons she was facing right now. Senator Augueld was looking for information to use for political purposes. There was no longer any military advantage to the interrogations, given the wealth of knowledge their slicers had stripped from the First Order ships in their possession. The only advantage would be to someone’s political career and Leia would not allow it until she was satisfied it would be undertaken under “regular” circumstances.

The problem now was that she wasn’t legally able to refuse the Senator’s request to interrogate the prisoners. She sensed he had only one person in mind that he wished to interrogate. Her son.

“Thank you General,” Augueld said, a scowl barely refrained on his brow. She got the impression things weren’t going as he’d planned. Was she not being difficult enough?

She felt it then, a sly probing through the force about her. Leia calmly toughened her shields, fielding several tentative forays to probe her mind.  

The probing backed off. She let the link between her and Luke deepen, snagging his attention. The gentle wraparound of his force presence whispered softly but that was all. It was all a subtlety of moments but it reverberated like a shock wave between them. Whoever was using the force to access her mind was not well trained or careless…or hoping to get their attention.

If Argueld knew what was happening he didn’t show it.

Shir Vey looked pale. Leia took another look at the young official from the Justice Department. Shir Vey let her eyes fall away as she appeared to take notes in her data pad. Did she have an untrained or poorly trained force skill? Or was it Ynka? Leia would have to be careful until she had more details on the Senator’s companions.

There was one thing she could do to see where the lay of the land was.

“Would you like to visit the prisoners,” Leia said.

Argueld scowled. “I have only come to interrogate one prisoner General. I think you know who that is,” he said. It took a great deal of Leia’s forbearance not to react. She reached out to the force for strength.

“You wish to speak to Kylo Ren I assume,” she said.

Argueld’s scowl deepened and his fingers flexed. His words held a barely concealed snarl. “I do.”

Leia wished the man would disappear out an airlock but held herself in check.

“Then I and my second,” she flicked her gaze to Poe, who had so far been quiet for the entirety of the interview, before returning her gaze to the three before her. “Will accompany you to where he is being held.”

Argueld sniffed and took on a smug expression. “I will be happy to visit the prisoner as soon as my people have been allowed to complete their checks and remove any bugs or spy drones that have been planted.

Leia felt a cold sensation in the force. A warning. It was not uncommon that a sweep for spy technology be done, although it was a little over-the-top for an interrogation. Still, something wasn’t right.

She saw Poe bristle. “Is that necessary. I doubt he will divulge any sensitive military information we don’t already have.”

Argueld’s eyes narrowed and his jaw hardened. Now here was perhaps a sign of why he’d gotten where he was. Leia sensed ruthlessness. He calmed himself again and spoke with an imperious tone that was schooled not to be taken seriously. Leia felt the warning in her gut grow stronger. She would do well not to underestimate this man.

“I have no doubt the ship he is currently housed in is full of bugs and spies and I don’t intend to fuel the machinations of any…suspect members of the Senate.”

Leia remained implacable even as Poe averted his gaze in an effort not to sneer. If anyone was a suspect member of the Senate it was the man who sat before them.

“As you wish,” Leia said.

 

 

Ben struggled against the force block around Rey. At least he now had a gauge on the shape of it within the force. Pushing through it wasn’t right. It weakened all efforts, bringing them to nothing. It confused him. No matter what he did it was an impenetrable wall that closed Rey’s mind off.

_Stop pushing._

Ben gasped. _Grandfather._

_Balance the force Ben. Balance it._

_How?_

_Listen?_

Ben grimaced. All his life he’d been taught to use the dark or the light. Nothing about balance.

He bowed his head. He could wield so much power and yet the balance was a fine point he did not yet understand.

He so much wanted to feel Rey’s presence. He could feel the steel trap of fate closing about him and he’d begun to doubt the vision he’d had at the tree. Enemies were coming, he knew it, felt it but his dreams were of Rey, striding forth into the stars, her power growing. He filled his mind with visions of her, as though they could soothe all his wounds. He imagined her right beside him. He’d hold her and kiss her and...and he better stop there if he wanted to keep that one little secret…for now.

He was so adrift in his emotions. Snoke had been right about one thing, he was weak and useless at controlling his emotions. Ben squeezed his eyes shut. To hell with Snoke. He’d imagine Rey in his arms if he wanted to. He just let himself find whatever vision of her in the force he could and let it come to him. Sweet, powerful Rey. Rey who loved him. Rey whom he loved. Rey had saved him and he’d saved her. He could feel her. Her fingers twisted in his. He didn’t care how the force came, just that it came. It made her presence grow stronger.

_Ben_

He smiled as he imagined her whispering his name.

_Ben, wake up. I finally figured out how to overcome the force block and you’re daydreaming._

Ben looked about. She was standing there. Right there. Scowling. She was so beautiful when she did that.

“Rey, is that you,” he said getting to his feet. She huffed.

_I’ve figured out Solia’s force block. I need you to learn how to do it Ben._

Wait, what did she say? He concentrated and things became clearer.

“I know you’re hiding something from me Ben. I know you think its better this way, to let me go. Well now it’s time for me to be stubborn and not let you go when you’re stuck in…” she waved a hand at him “whatever this is.”

He reached for her hand, expecting to pass through it. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he found her hand solid. Her mouth dropped open and she disappeared.

“Rey.”

Slowly she reappeared as though she were struggling to get back to where she was. She started speaking as soon as she was able, her eyes bright and voice earnest.

“My mother figured it out and Solia confirmed it. It creates a localised and powerful imbalance in the force. All you have to do is find the right mix of dark and light to rebalance it and you can overcome it. Our bond makes it so much easier. Let me show you.”

Rey disappeared again.

“Rey. Where are you?”

_It’s okay. I took the force block off so everything’s gone back to normal. I didn’t expect the...for us to be…never mind._

Ben sighed but was still confused. How did she….

_Forget about that. Link with me…properly. Then I’ll put the force block on and then we use our link to balance it._

Ben hesitated. There were things he didn’t want her to see or hear in his mind.

_I won’t look. I’ll be too busy with the force block._

Ben nodded even though she couldn’t see it. He closed his eyes and breathed, allowing himself to go deep in the force and reached out to her. Their link, deep and powerful left him speechless. Just the feel of them co-existing in the force….

Everything went dead.

He told himself not to panic, she said she was going to put the force block on again. Although this time it felt different. He tried his best to simply be open to her return. She was still there, this was just some kind of experiment or test. He needed to maintain his nerve.

The balance. He needed to find the balance. How do you listen to a symphony when you’re deaf? You can’t you can only feel it reverberate through what you touch. He reached out and touched the floor, the softness of his robes and the hard cold of the transparisteel door. Each thing had a place in the force, its own energy, even the dead things.

Nothing.

He sighed and slumped against a wall.

It was like everything was backwards. If he reached out it fled. If he reached in it shrank and disappeared. Panic rose up and he wasn’t able to let it go. This was how it was for people who didn’t have the force to help them….like his father. Pain welled inside him. Yet even that he couldn’t use. It just ached and gave him nothing.

He sat down on the floor, trying to breathe and let go of his pain and rising panic.

_Do not reach for it. Let her come to you. She has not forgotten you._

Ben listened to the voice like it was a song in his mind.

_Grandfather._

_Just listen._

Ben had so many questions but he ignored them. He had to overcome this. And oddly it was meant to be overcome but not by doing anything. So he sat and he breathed.

His mind wandered…to Rey. If only he could find their bond and reach out to her. He wanted to feel their link but couldn’t.

Something flared in his mind.

_Listen. She’s your source. Listen for her._

He thought of Rey, listening. They were so much a mix of dark and light, within each other, complementing each other. Their power together. She was his source and he was hers.

He could feel it rise about him. The dark and the light, except it wasn’t really dark and it wasn’t really light. It was just power. Soft and gentle. Satisfying, filling him up like he’d been empty for a millennia. He didn’t reach for it, he just let it come to him. This was how it was meant to be.

For so long he’d been working against it. Placing his own corrupt will and limited understanding on it. He let that part go and…

_Ben_

_Rey, did we overcome the force block._

_I don’t know. I haven’t put it on yet._

_What! But the force disappeared and then we balanced it and…_

_Ben. It’s not me. Someone else is doing this._

_What, how?_

_I have an idea but it’s not good._

Ben felt the balance waver and everything began to lose colour. Rey seemed far away. He breathed in and let her light and shape be all he needed and everything came flooding back.

_Ben. I saw flame. I saw your cell. You were in space being crushed…_

Ben let himself merge with Rey and saw what she’d seen.

He knew enough about politics to understand the motive here.

Someone had decided they couldn’t wait for the trial before the execution.

He thought of his mother and everything she’d lost.

He thought of Rey and everything she would lose. 

Ben clenched a fist and felt Kylo smile. He had to fight this. Except the only way to fight it was to let it happen.

_Hold onto me Rey. Don’t let me go._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is such a long chapter. Also, not sure I understand everything I tried to convey myself. Let me know it you're confused. Rey and Ben are.


	47. Chapter 47

Leia felt her son disappear from the force. Her heart stopped. The people in front of her blurred. She saw Poe lean forward but then something clicked in her head. She felt the force disappear altogether. That sense of the galaxy about her and those she loved who were still in it just… vanished. Her breath stopped and her heart became an unbearable pain. What was happening?

“Hold him.”

Leia forced her eyes to stay open and her head to turn by sheer will alone. Ynka Sada had Poe in a hold about his neck and shoulder that made his eyes roll back in his head before he passed out. Leia watched in horror as he slid to the floor.

Argueld sneered. “You really should have taken the hint General and gotten rid of him.”

“What is this” Leia demanded, although the cold dark of space and years of navigating the political minefield told her. This wasn’t about an interrogation, or justice. Out of the corner of her eye she saw movement and looked back out of the window. Ships were appearing from hyperspace. More than the few Republic and Resistance ships left could deal with.

Argueld raised a hand and spoke into a comm unit hidden in a bracelet on his wrist.

“Destroy them. Leave nothing but the Finalizer.”

Leia realised too late. Ambush. On reflex she reached out to Luke but felt nothing. What was happening? What had they done?

Argueld drew his hand from his robes and placed an ancient device on her desk. Pyramidal in shape with an interlinked octagonal design on it. Leia knew without a doubt this was the source of the loss of the force. It was something like the force block that everyone, including her brother, had been studying since Solia’s return. Argueld reached out and touched the device and one side of it opened. Leia felt a pressure, terrible pressure, holding her down as though she were beneath an ocean of weight. She knew it was the force but it felt strange, unlike anything she had felt before. This side of the force was different – and unreachable to her.

A tiny twinkle of light touched her mind. A breath of the force that she knew reached her through the chilling inaccessibility of the power she’d come to rely on in so many ways.

Luke. Somehow he’d broken through whatever this was. Her mind screamed for help but all he could give her was the reassurance that he would send someone as soon as possible. He couldn’t come to her right now. Ben needed him. She breathed in, of course, and let Luke go and do what he needed to do. She would have to hold out on her own. She didn’t know if she could though.

She caught the gaze of Shir Vey, scared, conflicted, a spark of compassion. Leia focussed on her.

“Oh dear General,” Argueld continued, his voice mocking and his saccharine smile holding a twist of poison. “I would have thought you’d suspect. Yes, I’m here to kill Kylo Ren. I’m also here to kill you and every other Jedi. I can do it too with this.” Argueld looked down at the pyramid, no doubt some kind of holocron, he’d placed on the desk.

A laugh whispered through her mind. The hair rose up all over her body. A voice she hadn’t heard for a long time nor had wanted to ever hear again.

_Leia. I’m here with you. Always._

Without a doubt she knew it was her father. So this was serious. He wouldn’t come if it wasn’t.

Something touched her mind.

_Don’t fight it. Balance it._

_Did Luke send you?_

_I’m always here._

Leia shook her head. No. She didn’t want to listen. He couldn’t be her help. She looked about. Poe lay face down on the floor. She looked at the comm unit in the desk. Ynka had taken up a position nearby. No doubt he would stop her calling for help.

Argueld turned back to the window where the invading ships were starting their attack. “The Jedi have long been a poison that the Supreme Leader was determined to keep from the galaxy. Now that he is gone we must continue his legacy…his vision.”

Leia ignored the noxious rhetoric that Argueld continued to spout. She took a breath and closed her eyes.

_How?_

That feeling in her mind again, as though…as though her hand had just slipped into another’s and all she needed to do was hold on.

_No, No. Don’t do that._ It was too much. Her hand was freed. She took a breath and waited for her heart to slow.

_Ok._

For a moment she didn’t think he’d answer.

_Just be here, dark and light, reach for neither. Just be here._

Leia tried her best but her mind was a whirl. Her only help the one man she’d been glad would never walk the galaxy again. She tried on many occasions to let her resentment go. It always crept back.

Leia glared at Argueld. The man was so full of hate. She could hate too. O how she could hate. She laughed. She could barely hold herself up sitting in her chair. Argueld turned and came around the desk. He turned her chair so she was looking directly out the window at the prison ship where Ben was being held.

“Now, say goodbye General.”

Leia’s heart stopped as though it were turning to stone and her stomach a weight bearing her down. She felt cold. Her tears frozen. She slowly shook her head. No, no, no.

She could do nothing as she watched. She struggled to breathe, from horror and desperation more than the overwhelming power of the device sitting innocuously on the desk. The crushing weight upon her only got worse. She couldn’t even scream when she saw a destroyer fire upon the prison ship. Return fire was completely impotent. A burning tear slipped from her eye and scoured the cold expanse of her cheek as she watched the prison ship flare and rip apart beneath the repeated fire of the destroyer.

She was back there, on the death star, watching again as her family died. The same presence there with her.

_I’m sorry_

_I HATE you_

_…I know_

 

 

Rey screamed. She felt the heat, the pain of being slammed against the wall as the cell was ejected. The violent shaking as the cell’s integrity was damaged by debris. Fear as walls crinkled. She held on to Ben but it didn’t seem to be enough. Ben’s hand slipped from hers.

The cell could rip apart at any moment, flinging its precious cargo into the quick cold ravages of space.

She had to stop it.

She reached again for Ben.

Everything disappeared.

“BEN.”

Her mother was there. “Rey. The balance. You let go the balance.”

A green robe swept into her vision. Solia. This woman seemingly back from the dead looked at her with determination.

“What do I do?” Rey begged.

“The balance is shifting fast so listen carefully.”

 

 

Ben opened his eyes.

Rey was gone. He’d lost her. He was alone. So alone. Cut off from the force. Cut off from Rey.

He bowed his head. His whole body ached. A chill bit into his heart and mind. He felt mute, deaf, blind. All he could do was wait and hope Rey would come back. He clenched his fists. He was a fighter but what could he fight here. He was stuck in a cell in space that was about to rip open.

He clenched a fist, the muscles in his jaw popping as his teeth ground.

No. Not like this.

He looked about. The cell wasn’t supposed to eject that violently. It was the ship itself, exploding. The rear wall and ceiling was crumpled. Even if the cell fell towards the planet, and that was unlikely, it would lose integrity before he got anywhere inside the atmosphere and possible survival.

They really had it sewn up. If he didn’t die in the explosion, he would die in space.

The cell jolted as another buckle appeared in the wall.

No. He wasn’t going to die. He released his clenched fist and breathed and tried to let the balance come back and…

He blinked. Everything seemed to have a blurred rainbow behind it, like the light was being refracted by something invisible within the cell.

_Rey._

He felt a pull.

_Rey._

_Sorry. Just me._

_Uncle Luke._

_If I can get your cell with my tractor beam…_

_How are you able to overcome the force block?_

_It’s more a misalignment that once balanced can give powerful access to the force._

His cell jerked.

_There you are._

He could feel his cell being pulled in a specific direction.

A flash. Laser fire.

The cell bounced then spun.

_Damn, I’ve been hit._

_Uncle._

His cell began to spin again. Things began to happen fast.

An image of Rey flickered in his cell then was gone.

A woman in green had stood behind her. He thought he recognised her.

_Ben. I have you again. R2 fixed the problem._

_I saw Rey._

_Ah, she has overcome the misalignment._

_She was here. For moment and...._

The darkness of space on the outside of his cell glowed red orange as his cell was bumped off course again.

Ben’s mind froze.

_Uncle Luke._

 

 

“Did you find him?”

Rey slumped. Her mind was spinning.

“We were there for a moment.” She was trying to save Ben but her sister’s image had intruded.

An alarm went off.

“That’s the general alarm. We’re under attack.”

Rey leapt to her feet.

“Chewie we have to get out there.”

“Rey,” Solia yelled. “Come back. You need to concentrate. He won’t make it.”

Rey’s fear was getting in the way. In the back of her mind somewhere she knew it. Losing people. Being left alone. She couldn’t lose Ben. Even her sister.

The Falcon fired up.

Sanjo ran into the Falcon. “I can help. Let me help. If you can find him I’ll pull him in.”

Of course.

“Rey.” It was her mother. “You are too full of conflict.”

Rey took a breath. One thing first.

“Gem.”

“Finn and Mitaka are working the tractor beam to bring in as many of the ejected cells as they can,” Sanjo said.

“Rey,” Solia again. “Ben won’t make it before they get to him. You know this.”

Rey sucked in a calming breath. Gem had a fighting chance if they could get her in before something happened to her cell. It was all Rey needed to know. Her focus was Ben.

“Someone needs to co-pilot with Chewie.”

“I can do that,” her mother said.

“Rey. He’s losing time,” Solia said. Rey nodded and sat back down.

“Sanjo. Your best place is the top hatch.”

 

 

Finn wasn’t sure how he felt about giving a First Order Captain orders. Funny thing was they worked well together. At least when they had a single minded task, bring in the ejected cells before they became cannon fodder. Finn had always thought Mitaka was just as fanatical about the First Order as any officer but something had changed.

A cell blew up, its signature disappearing from the screen, targeted by one of the newcomer ships. Finn sucked in a sharp breath and his eyes narrowed.

“Oh no you don’t,” Finn growled. He turned to Mitaka, “does this piece of junk have fire power yet.”

Mitaka scowled but instead of saying anything his fingers flew across the computer console.

“Ion cannons are not operational. On the other hand, there were a number of turbo lasers that remained operational after the self-destruct mostly failed.”

“Good,” Finn said. He ignored the sound of the Falcon pwering up roaring out of the hangar. No doubt they were joining the fray. He also had a job to do. He reached for the force. It didn’t come. Whatever, he’d been able to shoot straight his whole life anyway. He lined up the battle ship that had just taken out the prison ship and fired.

 

 

Ben breathed and worked to just let Rey back in. He reminded himself that she had the force block bracelet. Misalignment Luke had said. He kept his emotions in check. Luke might still be ok. He couldn’t feel the tractor beam any more. Maybe the ship was damaged. Maybe he needed to save himself first. Ben just needed to be patient. The cell cracked and the back wall buckled just a bit more. He breathed again and tried to give his fear to the force.

His cell around him lost focus and gained it again. The most beautiful woman in the galaxy stood before him.

“Rey.” She was here. He reached out to her and…and gripped a solid hand.

“How is this possible?”

“Don’t think about it. We’re here. Just us. Together.” He did think about them. He could feel the force leading as the balance was restored. He felt someone else too. Sanjo was pulling them in now. He let the force flow in whichever way it would, as though it made up its own mind. He thought of his uncle but there was nothing there. He wanted to reach out to him but that wasn’t how this worked. He just ‘wanted’ his uncle to be rescued too.

 

 

For the first time in her life Leia felt the dark roiling anger she knew was her downfall. The dark of her father gripped her as she watched in growing rage the flinging fiery debris.

_No. Leia, No._

_I can stop this._

_Oh, yes, you can but at what cost. Rey and Sanjo already have Ben. But there’s someone else you need to find, now._

_Luke_

Where was he? He said that Ben needed him so why were Rey and Sanjo rescuing Ben.

_No_

She tried to reach for Luke but was beaten back by the force block.

_Balance it._

_I don’t know how._

_Remember the first time you saw Luke. I know you weren’t impressed. He told me you thought he was too short._

_What? Why are you bringing that up? You two have been talking behind my back. Damn you. Everything you did and he still forgave you. Why couldn’t I make him see it?_

_He’s a lot like his mother._

_What?_

_Trouble is Leia, you’re a lot like me._

_I am not like you. I’m…I’m…_

She felt something shift. Something she could only do if she ignored herself doing it.

_Remember Luke._

Yes, she remembered Luke. That other half of her that had just clicked the first time they laid eyes on each other. Even if they didn’t realise it, somewhere in the force they’d known who they were to each other. That they would always be together. That was how the force created them. She felt the deep love of her connection with Luke and just let it warm her heart.

The room blurred, colours softened. She saw him then, walking down a coloured pathway to this silly office.

Shir saw him coming too and backed away, her eyes wide and wild, her mouth twisted in a gasp of horror. She pointed at Luke.

“No,” her voice a whisper. “It’s not possible.”

Argueld and Ynka saw nothing. They scowled at Shir who blatantly ignored them.

Luke seemed to walk through space, and then the walls, and alight on the floor next to Poe. He reached down and touched Poe and his eyelids fluttered as his consciousness returned.

Shir shrieked and bolted for the door. Luke moved very fast, igniting his sabre, its green glow strange in the dark decor of the room, and blocked Shir’s escape. With a turn of his hand the device on the desk flew to him. With a quick flick of his fingers and a strange pull on the force that made Leia feel queasy, the device died and the force came back.

That’s when Luke changed. He became an ethereal figure with a sharp white light glowing at his centre. Leia gasped.

_No_

She pushed herself up in her chair. She reached out to Luke in the Force…and found he was still there. Real, alive…and yet…different. His presence coalesced into something more solid, having mass and yet still ethereal in some way, as though he were purely force.

Shir was a shivering wreck by now. Argueld and Ynka could see Luke now as well.

Argueld turned on the so called agent from the Justice Department. Shir quailed.

“What is the meaning of this? He was supposed to die.”

Luke chuckled. “You thought to defeat an old Jedi at his own game.” Luke slipped the device away among his flight gear somewhere. Argueld’s eyes followed the disappearing device with covetous anger.

“How did you overcome the force block,” Shir said.

“Ah. That was your first mistake then. Assuming its only real function was to block the force to the uninitiated. You do not understand its true purpose.”

Luke pointed his lightsabre at Shir. “You have much to learn if you would be willing.”

“NO.” Shir threw out her hands to push Luke back with the force. Leia saw him step back from her passage to the door but suspected it had nothing to do with Shir’s efforts at a force shove.

“If you’re looking for a black cube and a white stone I’m afraid you won’t find either of them.”

Shir glared at him. Leia could feel that force reach again, this time trying to find out what Luke knew. Shir shook and growled as she stared at Luke. Cringed as Shir expended her effort only to find Luke hadn’t even broken a sweat.

“You have some promise but…”

A blaster shot flashed across the room and hit the wall behind Luke.

Luke turned to Ynka and twirled his sabre, unaffected by the blaster shot that Ynka has sent across the room into his heart. Leia wasn’t sure if Luke was still solid. He looked solid…sort of.

Ynka paled and gasped. His grip on the blaster slipping. Poe took that moment to clout Ynka and disarm him as he crumbled to the floor. Shir fled through the door and Senator Argueld was left with Luke, Leia and Poe. He looked about her, eyes darting and swallowing hard.  

Somewhere out in space one of the attacking ships blew up, the red light flaring on the back wall of the office.

“Now Senator,” Leia said. “You had plans to kill the Jedi.”

Argueld’s mouth turned down as his eyes narrowed. A snarl twisted his lips.

“There’s an armada out there and they’re going to wipe out every Republic ship and then they’re going to board the Finalizer and take it by force if they have to.”

Luke chuckled as he looked at the glowing blade of his sabre.

“So. It’s piracy then.”

 

Finn let the force guide him as Galena had taught him. He wasn’t going to let whoever these people were take this hell ship now that it belonged to the Republic. He gauged his shot on the screen, letting the force show him when.

“Now,” he yelled at Mitaka and they fired together, seriously damaging an approaching starship. It felt odd to be giving Mitaka orders. They were both aware of his former status as a storm trooper. Well Finn wasn’t going to mention it if Mitaka didn’t.

On the other hand, any weird moments he had with Mitaka didn’t compare to what really irked and confused him. Finn watched as Republic soldiers helped General Hux and Rey’s sister Gem, Sabira Ren, from their cell’s now that they’d been brought in with the tractor beam.

Actually it irked him that they had rescued General Hux, Finn really wouldn’t have minded if the man had been in one of those cells that were blown up.

As for Gem, now that was confusing. He should hate her after she tortured him and yes, he was angry but, maybe it was the force waking up inside him, he felt sorry for her. He felt like he should help her. She’d hurt people but he felt her hurt as well.

The prisoners were all taken into custody again by Republic and Resistance forces, both old and newly acquired. They didn’t have much time to round them all up though. The screen showed more ships heading their way. Too many for their few laser cannons. They were about to be boarded by their attackers.

“They’re here to take the ship,” he yelled. Mitaka looked up from the comm where he was intercepting a message.

“It’s Thorceline and he’s here with Bade Waldren.” Finn did double take.

“Wait, what. I thought Thorceline was in prison.”

Mitaka scowled.

“Not anymore it seems.”

Hux struggled his way free from the Republic guards and screamed out in a voice of half desperation and half belligerence.

“If any of you have any shred of allegiance to the First Order then fight with our allies to help…oww”

Hux was holding his face where Kari Hux had slapped it. There was a moment of silence as everyone stared at the red haired cousins, shock and amusement unevenly spread across the many faces present.

“Shut up Armitage,” Kari snapped. Hux glared down at his cousin his face red on one side and redder on the other where he’d been slapped. She just glared back up at him. Mitaka coughed. Kari pushed past Hux before he could say anything and stepped up to the comm where Mitaka stood. She held out her hand. Mitaka didn’t waste time handing her a comm speaker. Mitaka had always felt that discretion was the better part of valour and he didn’t want to tangle with a lady who had the same look as her cousin when they were about to do something strategic and noteworthy.

Kari’s voice rang out over the ship wide comm. Finn’s regard for his former general’s rather sweet cousin grew in leaps and bounds.

“This is Kari Hux. The forces attacking this ship are under the command of Admiral Thorceline and Bade Waldren. Thorceline has no allegiance to the First Order or the Republic and Waldren is a pirate and a slaver whose record goes back to the Hutts. Defend your ship. Defend your lives.”

There was a moment of frozen realisation as her words sank into the minds of those about them and others throughout the ship. All those who stood in the main hangar turned and faced the entrance as enemy ships began landing. It only took a moment and people were scrambling for weapons to defend against the boarders, old allegiances forgotten as a new allegiance of necessity formed.

 

 

Rey had to stop herself from concentrating hard and just let it happen. That was the funny thing about the balance. It pulled neither one way nor the other. It was just there. Ben in his cell was just there and the force rebalance she was able to achieve with the bracelet let her find him and go to him.

“Rey.” His voice was raw and fraught with tension. She noticed that there was a mark on his forehead, perhaps from when the cell had ejected. His skin was cold and she guessed it was because it was cold in the cell. The environmental controls were probably damaged.

“Ben.”

In this balance they seemed to merge. Her safety on the Falcon balanced the danger of the damaged cell he was in. As one they kept it together, keeping it from tearing apart. She could sense, see even, the twisting path that Chewie and her mother took the Falcon on as they dodged blaster fire and debris. She saw Solia’s hand on her arm, reminding her to stay within the balance. She felt Ben touch her face in this strange balance as though he were solid and corporeal but also like an ethereal being in a vision. She felt him shiver from the cold.

The Falcon was getting closer to Ben. In spite of the increasing strength their proximity afforded them they both knew his cell would eventually fail. She could feel it. Rey held on tight, thinking the warmth back into Ben.

“There.” She heard her mother’s voice. The Falcon slowed.

Rey slipped her hand into his. He pulled her close trapping her hand against his chest. She looked into his eyes, so deep, so full of light, dark, pain, compassion, love. He was afraid but she saw him master his fears.

_I’m with you_ , he whispered into her mind.

There was a shudder as the cell’s integrity became a little more compromised. Rey let herself sink deeper into his mind and he let her, the power between them increasing allowing them to keep the cell intact for a little while longer.

He was getting colder and it was making it hard for him to keep the balance. She tried to bring the light to warm him but it didn’t work the same way in this balance. She was running out of time to figure this out.

How were they going to do this? This was space. They couldn’t just open the hatch. The safeties wouldn’t allow it. Atmosphere would escape, sucking Ben away.

“Rey, you’re losing him.”

Rey closed her eyes and let herself just be with him. She looked up into his eyes again. So easy to get lost in them. She felt them merge still more and their power grow. The cell would not fail before…

“Tractor beam.”

“Can we get him back to the Finalizer?”

Rey’s mind began working on strategies. Solia’s whisper brought her back.

“Rey the balance. You must stay with Ben.”

“Too far,” her mother said.

“Can we drop into Tyrad’s atmosphere?” Sanjo said.

Chewie howled about reconfiguring the shields to cover the cell. The cell’s shields were damaged. Otherwise the heat of the atmosphere would rip it apart before they got low enough to breathe.

Rey felt a stab of fear rip through her straight from Ben. The thought of burning horrified him. He pushed it down. Rey concentrated again on being his strength and just holding things together.

“That will take time but maybe we can do it by the time we get there,” her mother said.

The Falcon jolted as it took a hit.

Chewie growled and set the Falcon into a shallow dive designed to give them maximum speed to the planet’s atmosphere without disrupting the pod’s increasingly fragile structure. Rey and Ben were just holding on as best they could to each other and the flimsy bit of air surrounding Ben in the frigid damaged cell.

She tried not to be a part of his thoughts. She didn’t want to pry into anything he wasn’t ready to share. She didn’t want to barge into his thoughts the way they had when they first met, like prowling beasts ripping at each other in attack and defence. The problem was there was something in Ben’s head that the more she tried not to see it or hear it the brighter and louder it became.

The balance became tenuous as they were swept into each other’s thoughts and feelings.

Solia’s hand squeezed her arm. “Rey, the balance.”

It was the hardest thing she ever did to back off, to pull out of his thoughts. She had to put him back at arm’s length to keep him safe. Ben knew but it still felt like a rejection. She purposely focussed her mind on keeping the walls of the cell intact and he followed her, relief trickling through him. It left her confused that there was something so important that he still wanted to keep from her.

“I think I’ve got it. How far now,” her mother said.

Rey knew Ben was listening through her as those around her worked to save him. It chipped away just a bit more at an old fear that he wasn’t important to others except what he could do for them using the force. A fear Snoke had fostered. Rey tightened her grip on him. He was more important to her than anything. And whatever was going on in his head that he didn’t want her to know, well they’d talk about that later.

“I’ve got it. The Falcon’s shields are now protecting the cell against the atmosphere, although if the cell breaks apart I can’t guarantee we won’t lose him.”

Rey tensed.

“It’ll w..work Rey,” Ben whispered, his body shaking from cold. “Y..ou w…on’t let me g..go.”

Rey reminded herself to stop thinking about what was going on around them. Just maintain the balance and use it to keep Ben safe...and warm. Even if the cell broke apart she would keep a hold of him the way he’d kept a hold of her.

“We’re starting to enter the atmosphere now,” her mother said. Rey could hear the sound of it through the thin walls and adopted shields of the cell. The cell began to warm again as it began to descend, the imperfect shields not quite keeping all the friction at bay. No, it wasn’t a perfect fix and she was beginning to fatigue in her efforts to keep the cell intact. Ben on the other hand was starting to regain some power as the cell warmed up and he warmed up.

“We’ll make it,” Ben whispered, attuned to her every fear at this moment.

“Sanjo, you’re going to have to punch a hole through when you open the top hatch,” her mother yelled out.

“What with,” he said. Rey felt a hand at her belt retrieving her lightsabre.

“Use this,” Solia said.

Rey, felt the tiny splinter start. The shielding about the cell wasn’t quite perfect and the cell wanted to rip away. 

“Now Sanjo.”

Rey saw a blue glow emerge from the floor in Ben’s cell and quickly circle a hole big enough for a person to come through. The hole accentuated the splinter though and the cell began to warp even more. She felt Ben push only to find himself working against the balance. He backed off and things started to fade. There was the sound of roaring as air rushed by. The temperature dropped again.

Their feet were sinking down. Sanjo was using the force to pull Ben in and she was going with him in whatever state it was she was in in this strange balance they’d created. The cell began to break apart. Rey did what she could to protect him. All she could do was hold on even as he was jolted about and grunted in pain.

The force came back as the cell broke apart and flew away. The bracelet allowed her to maintain the balance that allowed her to protect Ben but she could sense him using the force to stay with the Falcon.

A touch. Sanjo had them. How did he manage to keep a hold of Ben in the chaos? Rey could feel it if she let herself. Sanjo was tapping into the force balance she held through Solia whose fingers were touching the bracelet. There was a definite link between Sanjo and Solia. Ben could sense it too. For a few moments there was a strange mix of balances and links that no-one was really sure how it worked but it gave them the power to pull Ben inside in spite of the rushing atmosphere. Together they sank into the warmth of the Falcon. The roaring of the wind was cut off and they fell to the floor.

Rey opened her eyes. She was back in the Falcon’s lounge staring at Solia.

“Ben.”

Rey flicked the lock on the bracelet and it fell away as it was quickly scooped up by Solia. Rey leapt to her feet and sprinted the short distance down the corridor. Ben lay unconscious on the floor, his clothing ripped, his skin pale and scratched and a bruise spreading on his forehead where he’d been hit by debris. Sanjo knelt next to him, shaking his shoulder and calling his name.

“Ben.” She slid to her knees next to him. He groaned. They had him but he wasn’t safe yet. Where were his injuries? Solia was there in an instant, careful hands checking him over.

“Is he ok,” Sanjo begged her. Solia pressed her lips together but kept checking for his vitals. Rey reached for Ben’s hand and sought him through the force, the contact rousing him from his unconscious state.

“Rey,” Ben whispered. They all breathed a sigh of relief. That was something at least. She closed her eyes and began to pull the light to him, as much of it as she could. It felt odd without having to balance the force first. The way she pulled on the light and used it according to her will was so direct but the balance had been something subtle but ultimately more powerful. Perhaps…perhaps. She tried to find that balance again.

Ben coughed and groaned.

Rey stopped trying to find that different balance. Not a good time to experiment. She pulled the light to him in the way she knew. It was tried and tested, she’d look into using the force balance some other time.

“You have a skill greater than my own,” Solia murmured, her face relaxing into a smile as she felt Ben’s pulse.

“Uncle Luke.” Ben sat up and stared into her eyes, fear and horror in his own. “Uncle Luke. He’s…his ship blew….Rey…we lost him…he’s…wait.”

“Ben what are you talking about.” Somewhere out there she could still feel Luke. It was a strange feeling though, like he was still in that curious balance created by the force block, for want of a better word.

Ben looked at her. “You feel it too don’t you. He’s there but…he’s different.” Rey didn’t know what to think.

“Sweetheart, we’ve got a problem,” her mother yelled back from the cockpit. Rey and Ben looked at each other. Now what?

She helped Ben to his feet. He was unsteady at first. Sanjo kept him upright when he swayed. Rey reached out to him through the force again and sent a little more light his way.

“Stop it. You’ll wear yourself out,” he said, although she knew he was just embarrassed at needing help. She noticed he had a rip in his sleeve and an extra cut in his arm beneath the ragged edge of the fabric.

“Rey. If you want to get back to the Finalizer we need to rethink our strategy. Whoever these people are they’re primary aim is not to just take out the resistance.

Ben and Rey ran to the cockpit and looked out on the scene appearing before them as Chewie climbed back into space towards the Finalizer.

“What…”

“They’re attempting to board the Finalizer but someone is putting up a hell of fight,” Ben said.

“We have to get back there. Your mother is still on that ship,” Rey said.

“They’re aiming for the main hangars,” Ben said. “There are other ways in.”

“Chewie come up further to aft. See that, that’s what we want.”

Rey looked at what Ben was pointing to and laughed. Ben smirked.

“Didn’t we do this once before,” she said.

“Yes, but this time we won’t be chasing each other we’ll be chasing them, together.”

There was a startled growl from Chewie. They looked back out the cockpit window. Rey felt her heart stop and out of the corner of her eye she saw Ben’s face go pale.

“Is that R2-D2,” her mother said. R2 was floating in space among debris that appeared to come from an X-Wing. The astro droid looked badly burned, his metallic body appearing to have taken the brunt of an explosion. Chewie quickly flicked the tractor beam switches and got a lock on the little droid. They wouldn’t leave him behind. Rey would make sure when all of this was over R2 was fixed, whatever was wrong.

“I don’t understand. If Luke is still there…” Ben said, his brow wrinkling in confusion and alarm.

Rey tried to reach out. She felt Ben do the same. Luke was still there.

“Maybe he was rescued along with the other pods and cells,” her mother said. “Does his X-Wing have an ejection pod?”

Rey closed her eyes, of course. Ben’s arms circled her and held her close.

Chewie huffed his relief as well and flicked switches to activate coupling links. They were coming up on their docking port.


	48. Chapter 48

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well look at that, I wrote an ending. Yes, it's extra long. I hope you like it. Don't forget the post scripts at the end.

“Anakin.”

Obi-Wan’s force shadow fell across the back of his hand. Anakin pulled his hand away from the little white flower that grew in the grass. He knew this was coming.

“I know. I know. Luke was supposed to be here with us by now but…”

“You just can’t just toy with the balance like this. You know Leia was supposed to…”

“You don’t know that. You can’t see the balance the way I can.”

Anakin wasn’t sure he was seeing the balance right either. Now Luke was stuck in that balance. He would have thought that as a part of the force with all the will and knowledge of the force at his disposal he would get it right. He was just going on a feeling but this meant something for the balance in ways that were far reaching.

Hang that, it meant something for the people he loved. Compassion was a fine thing but love was deeper, more abiding.

“The balance you may have maintained but at your own expense, I fear.”

Anakin shook his head as the tap of Yoda’s stick approached. A grin softened his mouth as he watched the old hermit climb up on a rock.

“Thank you. I care about you too,” Anakin said. Yoda made a funny sound that might have been a chuckle but Anakin wasn’t going to acknowledge it. Instead he focused on the little white flower that grew among the grass of Naboo. He would not let Leia travel the same pathway of pain he had. Even if…even if…

Obi-Wan shook his head.

“Luke will not join with the force as we have.”

“He knew what he was doing. I told him the journey home would be long.”

“He was never meant to…”

“I will be with him,” Anakin said. Yes. As long as it took. There was always room for love in this balance and he loved his son – but he loved his daughter and her son too.

“Reckless are you still.”

Anakin looked across the expanse to where Padme waited. She would have wanted him to do whatever he could to help their children and grandchild, even if their ages spent apart had just grown a little longer. Love didn’t mind the sacrifice it made for those who were loved.

 

 

“I need to get up to the bridge,” Mitaka yelled over the fire fight. Finn was doing his best at targeting the craft still trying to land in the hangar. He snapped his head about for a moment, looking for the best route to the lifts and the upper sections of the Finalizer. Mitaka continued.

“Look. Were just fighting the small stuff here. The cells are either in or gone. There are bigger ships out there. I might be able to get one of the ion cannons running but I need to be on the bridge if I’m going to have any hope of targeting one of the big ships out there.

Finn nodded. He concentrated, letting the force flow as he did, seeing the best way.

Finn shook his head. Something wasn’t right.

“Not yet.”

 

Poe was going through start up procedures for the hyperdrive and the sublight engines. Several Resistance crew were holding Argueld and Ynka Sada in a secured breifing room before transferring to the brig. Luke had disappeared, literally, and then popped back and was now gone again. Poe let that one go. He believed in the Jedi and the Force but was happy with his own skills. They came with less baggage.

BB-8 had rolled out from the shadows where he’d been hiding and bumped against his leg, beeping an inquiry.

“I don’t know how we’re going to get out of this one buddy.”

The General wanted updates and strategies. There was something Poe was beginning to notice.

“General, I know Argueld said he had an armada but…this armada is a little thin on muscle. There are only three ships of a size to take on the Finalizer and they would all need to engage us at once. The remaining are light to medium craft aimed at close combat and boarding.

“Have you sent a priority signal to the Resistance?”

“Done but I don’t expect any returning ships to be here in time.”

“What have we got with us here?”

“Three light cruisers, one small contingent of X-wings and three A-wings.”

“What about TIE’s.”

Poe looked at her.

“Are you sure.”

“If they’re on our side.”

Poe nodded. He sent a message to Finn in the hangar and got a hasty reply.

“General. Apparently we’re repelling boarders.”

Poe wanted to be out there in his X-wing. He looked at the General.

“Commander, you can’t be a Starfighter pilot forever. I need you here.”

Poe nodded. He itched to be out there but getting the Finalizer to safety was more important. It needed a pilot and they needed a plan.

A light beeped on the comm board. Poe flicked it open. It was a recorded message from Chandrila.

“General, I think this is for you.”

“Bring it up,” she said.

Major Ematt’s face appeared. Poe frowned then raised an eyebrow as the message played. This was a game changer. He watched the General as her face was first confused, then hopeful and then tearful.

He turned away, busying himself with his task, not sure how he felt about the content of the message. He stared at the screen, comparing logistics and strategies on their current situation. Where was Finn when he needed him?

Ematt had barely finished the last of his message when the General sprang from her seat and charged towards the lifts. Poe shook his head. He hoped this brought her the happiness she deserved.

 

 

Ben was still reeling from his rescue. It was becoming a bad habit, him or Rey getting into trouble while the other came to their rescue. He couldn’t help a smile though when he felt her beside him. Her force signature right now was strong, bright and just a little savage. Her power resonated with his own across the bond. The thought of heading into battle with her by his side made his senses sing. A little pulse of light came from Rey. His face warmed as he realized he’d been broadcasting his admiration.

Sanjo kept up at his other side and Galena and Solia were behind with Chewie bringing up a formidable rear. They secured the Falcon in the dock and sent a mech droid to help R2-D2. The corridors were deserted at first but Ben figured any crew would be fighting the boarders.

They turned a corner and found a figure in their path. Someone he didn’t expect to be there.

“Uncle Luke,” Ben said. Luke turned and smiled. Ben felt a little pull of nostalgia when he thought of how much he’d loved his uncle in days gone by. He could feel those old emotions coming back and, without Snoke’s poisonous influence, he welcomed them now.

“Your mother wanted me to give you this,” he said. Luke extended his mechanical hand that held Kylo’s sabre. Ben’s mouth dropped open as he stared at his uncle.

“You want me to have this back. I would have thought…”

Luke raised a hand.

“You’ll need it if we’re going to defend this ship,” was all he said. Ben looked at the weapon, his hand wrapping about the hilt in a familiar grip. The weapon was imperfect but it was his. Maybe one day he’d make a new one. He remembered the vision at the tree. Then again maybe he wouldn’t.

There was a gasp from behind him. He looked up. Luke was gone.

“Hey…what…”

“Either he’s just leaned to teleport or…” Galena began then she stopped. Her shoulders fell and she looked down. A whisper escaped her lips that Ben barely caught.

“It’s true.”

“What,” Rey said. Her mother looked up and smiled.

“Oh, just something I remembered. Nothing to worry about.”

“But…”

“Luke is still with us…somewhere. Come on. We have a ship to defend.”

Mother and daughter considered each other for a moment. Ben reached out to Rey in the force. He felt her force presence wrap about him on reflex and he loved the feeling.

_Rey. Go._

Ben pulled back. Was he meant to hear that little whisper from her grandfather? Rey’s look held no censure. They would go together.

They kept jogging along the corridors. Soon they began to see crew. Some looked like Resistance, Some Republic and some First Order. They were all armed and in a hurry. While some continued on with what they were doing, some attached themselves to their band. The effect was like a snowball until Ben was no longer sure how many were making their way with them towards the main hangar where they were being boarded.

They could hear the sounds of battle up ahead and increased their pace. They were met by chaos in the hangar. One thing was sure. The number of boarders were greater than the number defending the Finalizer.

The other thing Ben noticed was the Knights of Ren. Most of them were new recruits but there was one commander left. He searched for Gem. Rey saw her first, hiding in the remains of her prison cell that had been brought in by a tractor beam. Ben felt Rey’s initial relief at seeing her sister. Good. In spite of everything there was still something there they could build on, some day.

Would Gem fight now with the Knights of Ren or not? Something had changed with her. Good or bad he didn’t know. For now though Ben was uncertain about the knight he’d never really been close to in spite of everything.

Ben had never shared much in common with the Knights, outside of Snoke’s ‘destiny’. Even so, he wanted them to know what it was like to let go of their ‘destiny’. Ben could see it now, how Snoke had spouted the doctrine of destiny for his own purposes. Could he get them to see this too? Could they turn away from this deception of ‘destiny’ and just let the force be their guide?

Rey ignited her lightsabre and the activity in the hangar skidded to a brief halt. Ben (or was it Kylo) ignited his lightsabre in turn. He saw from the corner of his eye his uncle’s green one. Yes, his Uncle was there too. And then the red one in Galena’s hand.

Gem leapt from her cell. “That’s mine.”

Galena looked at her. “This one that I made and you stole from me.”

Gem scowled. “You did not make it. Snoke gave it to you.”

“The crystal maybe but I did the rest.” Galena ignored her and turned to the battle ahead. Ben didn’t have much time to ponder that little exchange. He brought his sabre up to deflect a blaster bolt, sending it into a mercenary. Rey was running towards one of the biggest targets, one that held a very big gun…and who was not sure how to deal with a savage with a lightsabre, a well-practiced savage. Ben’s heart rate shot up but he controlled it. When he let go his fear at her direct assault his heart swelled instead at how she could take on any size opponent and bring them down to her size – like she’d done to him.

He looked for Sanjo, who had just pulled several boarders off their feet. Chewie’s bowcaster took down a Rodian wielding a large blaster. Ben winced. He knew what that felt like.  Luke seemed to be everywhere. Taking out key warriors and weapons.

Ben’s sabre sliced through machinery and muscle, scattering those about him as the force hummed through him. He made his way towards the dark clad figures who also wielded lightsabres. Whoever was left of the Knights of Ren would face him.

He dispatched a Selonian crazy enough to attack him with a vibroblade and then noticed Finn was working the turbo lasers with Mitaka. A pull in the force made him turn his head just before a masked mercenary aimed a spray of blaster fire their way. He leapt and deflected the blaster fire so it went over their heads. Mitaka looked up, his hat gone and his hair more than ‘out of place’. Both he and Finn nodded. Finn yelled at Mitaka “Let’s go” and they both ran for the lifts. Not what Ben was expecting but the force told him they were going in the right direction for whatever their task was. He turned back to the fray.

Ben continued to wade through the mercenaries towards the Knights of Ren. He felt Rey behind him again covering his back and grinned. The sound of battle about him, the roar and smash of blaster fire and damage mingled with the cries of the wounded and dying. Ben cut a swathe through the hangar that others followed, splitting the boarding forces in two.

When he reached the Knights of Ren he felt the dynamic change. They took up a defensive circle as though they were protecting something…or someone. In the middle of the circle someone else stood. Someone who held something they were trying very hard to operate in the confined space.

“Don’t come any closer of you value your life Kylo Ren.”

He recognized the voice. Nandia Ren. One of the few survivors of Dastron. She must have also survived the earlier battle over Tyrad. Gem’s rival and the one most likely to take the lead after her. Ben reached out in the force. Xito, Daegon and Illima had been about to take their tests. They now stood with Nandia. There were others that he did not recognize though. Not for the first time he wondered where had they come from?

One thing he did recognise though. There was a desperation in their minds that was not evident in their stances. This gave him pause. Their reason and purpose for being here was not held so tightly as maybe it once would have been under Snoke.

A sharp twinge in the force from his uncle caught his attention.

_Shir Vey_

He heard Luke’s words even though he wasn’t directing them at Ben. Ben felt that odd balance when his uncle stood behind him. Ben could feel his uncle’s power building. Rey looked at Ben. Yes, she could feel it too.

Ben knew what was needed. He nodded to Rey. Together they launched at the Knights of Ren, their sabres flashing as they scattered the circle of knights. Even Nadia fell back with little fight, leaving exposed the woman who stood in their midst. She held a device like a pyramid with abstract patterns on it. Ben knew straight away that this was a force block device. A recognition was echoed by Rey and Luke. It seemed to be made according to an old design but with new materials. Unlike Solia’s bracelet and Sanjo’s ring its power would be limited and easily disrupted. It appeared to have been made in haste and with inadequate skill.

Ben began to reach for the device with the force but Shir Vey was already manipulating the configuration of the device. A buzz and the force misaligned. Ben didn’t waste time fighting the force block. He breathed and thought of Rey. It was like fog parting and across the bond their minds linked. Together they balanced the force. The true light of the force flowed to them in all its colours. Luke’s power rose up behind them and the ineptly made force block device went dark, the force returning like a shock wave in blinding light and the coldest dark.

Ben looked at Rey. He could feel her ache for that strange and beautiful balance. She wanted to know more. Her golden light pulsed in curiosity and longing. He reached for her and she melded with him begging him to join her in this search for balance. He knew he would.   

“Nooo.”

A woman, younger than he expected, held the dead device in her hands as the Knights of Ren backed away. Luke approached his sabre down but ready. Ben and Rey stepped up to each side of him. Shir Vey slumped and bowed her head. Whoever this woman was, it was over for her.

The noise of battle died away. The mercenaries saw the uselessness of their position. Their weapons had been destroyed and half their number were dead. Like most mercenaries, they had no intention of engaging in a heroic death. They headed for their boarding craft to flee. Some were taken prisoner but some made it to their ships.

The Knights of Ren were no match for the Jedi, their desperation melting into confusion. Ben felt a twinge in the force and saw a flash of his vision, his red lightsabre turning white. Ben looked at the dark warriors and had compassion for their lost state.

“Knights of Ren. Who convinced you to fight with these mercenaries?”

Nandia Ren straightened. “Who are you to speak to us Ben Solo?” Nadia said his name like an accusation, a curse, something to be spat out in disgust. His dark temper rose up swiftly. Ben Solo was not a swear word to be used against him. That was Snoke’s doing and he wouldn’t allow his name, his true name…

_I love you Ben Solo._

Rey’s words were like a cool breeze on Tatooine, dissolving his temper. He breathed and let his mind work instead of his anger. 

“I was once your master.”

“Kylo Ren was our master. You’re not Kylo Ren.”

It was true. He had no command any more with these dark warriors. Nandia glared at him.

“Snoke would have had us execute anyone who proved unfaithful to our cause.” It was a direct challenge. He knew what she was implying. On the other hand…

“Then perhaps you should be executed. It was never the remit of the Knights of Ren to join with criminals and castaways.”

He felt Nandia shudder and the confusion in the other Knights rise. He stepped forward one more step.

“Our destiny was to bring order to the chaos in the galaxy and yet here you are fighting beside that very chaos we were meant to fight against.”

Nandia looked at the other Knights. Ben knew he was right but would they accept it. He had compassion for their conflict. They were essentially leaderless and he could feel their desire for a strong leader once again.

Nandia bowed her head. He felt her yield. Ben felt something within him relax.

A warning from Rey across their bind. He felt the rage grow and form into action. They turned to face the new threat.

Gem.

“Fools,” she screamed. Gem threw up a force wave, not of great power but enough to hold them back for a moment. A moment long enough for Gem to get past them and pull the force block device to her. She held something else in her hand. Something that had belonged to Snoke. Something that clicked into the base of the pyramid. It lit up…in red. Ben felt the angry power build.

“Gem, what have you done?” Galena yelled. Ben felt Rey’s anger rise as she stalked towards her sister but Gem held the glowing device in front of her as a threat.

“Do you think I would yield to you sister.” Gem held up the glowing red device and Rey stopped.

“Rey. It’s a bomb,” Ben yelled.

Ben could have sworn he heard C3PO moan that they were doomed but he ignored the sudden Déjà vu and refocused on the moment.

“I won’t let you and your mother take what’s mine,” Gem snarled, holding the device in front of her. She backed away towards the command shuttle that Ben had piloted as Kylo Ren.

“The only thing stopping this from exploding is the force. I’m the only one who knows how it works,” Gem said.

This wasn’t true. He could feel his uncle puzzling it out as Gem spoke and Ben could feel Luke was already close.

Ben had another problem though. He felt Rey’s anger at her sister rise up across the bond. He tried to reach out to Rey and remind her of her compassion and care for her sister in the past.

Rey snapped the bond shut. It hurt. He muttered a curse to himself. Why were they always doing this to each other? 

Gem turned to Galena. “Give me back my lightsabre.”

“It doesn’t belong to you,” Rey snapped.

“Your mother lost it and Snoke gave it to me.”

“Girls. No-one is taking my lightsabre,” Galena said. A bitter glee filled Gem’s eyes. She pointed at Ben.

“I know where you keep Obi-Wan’s sabre and I’ll be there before you.”

He felt Rey’s shock across the bond.

 _You have my grandfather’s lightsabre._ These words were directed at him. He only had one reply.

 _No. It’s on Mustafar._ He could feel Rey’s confusion turn to anger.

_I love you Rey._

He heard her snarl across the bond and then felt her wrath melt and their bond grow a little stronger.

“Go then. Find it,” Ben said. He saw Gem’s momentary confusion but then her anger returned. Yes, Gem was sure she knew where it was but she was wrong.

“I will,” she laughed. A snarl curled her lip. “Can’t have you following me though.” With a bitter laugh Gem threw the bomb at Luke. He caught it just as it began to explode and used the force to contain its destructive power. All of his power was taken keeping the explosion from wiping everything and everyone out.

Gem laughed and turned towards the command shuttle. There was no-one to stop her. Luke did not have the power on his own to stop her and Ben could feel him drawing power through whatever bonds he had with all of them to contain the explosion.

“Get out,” Ben yelled at those around him. The mercenaries needed no further encouragement and fled towards their ships. Some of the First Order and Resistance fighters and guards tried to stop them but Rey forestalled that. Her voice was backed up with the force when she yelled out.

“Let them go. Get out of here. Save yourselves.”

Most did as they were commanded, fleeing from the stalled explosion while they could. Some to safer parts of the ship and others to whatever space faring craft they could find.

Ben watched as Hux and some of the First Order officers and most of the Knights of Ren followed Gem into his command shuttle. Luke continued to pull on their power though, he could even feel his mother’s power flowing towards her brother. Just like at Ahch-To they worked together to contain the destruction threatening to end their lives.

Shir Vey also saw her chance and ran to the command shuttle where she found a welcoming smile from Gem.

Ben could feel that Luke was leaving, drawing the power of the explosion with him into the balance of the force he now dwelt in.

“Don’t go,” he said. He felt Rey’s tears as his own on his cheeks. He heard his mother’s anguish across their bond. His mother was losing someone else and Ben felt the darkness stalk him like prey knowing that he was the greatest cause of her pain.

Luke looked at him. “I’ll come back.” Then, as though lightning had struck, he was gone in a brilliance that burned and left behind dark spots in the back of Ben’s eyes.

Ben stood there staring at the empty space for a moment. He could feel Rey’s grief and confusion across their bond. His command shuttle took off through the hangar doors. Sanjo stepped forward – his hands extended. For just a moment Ben’s sabre looked white.

“No,” Ben said. “Let them go.” He didn’t know why but this was the way it was meant to be.

A lift across the hangar opened and his mother burst out.

“Luke. Luke.” She was running and looking for him.

“Luke will come back.” Ben stepped forward and his mother saw him. She stopped and looked at him. For a moment all her pain was directed at him, the whole snarling depth of it. Ben felt his legs weaken and fold and he went down on one knee.

“Ben. Ben, I’m sorry.” She ran to him and bent and wrapped her arms around him.

“I love you Ben. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“Why are you sorry? I was the one…”

“I should have saved you. I should have stopped him. I should have stopped Snoke. I didn’t know what to do.”

Ben stood and wrapped his arms around his mother. Rey was there, her eyes bright with tears but her mind was politely closed to allow him time with his mother.

He wasn’t going to have that and he reached out and pulled Rey to him as well. Rey’s voice cracked as she spoke.

“He said he was going to come back.”

His mother folded an arm around her too. “Yes. I feel it in the force. He will come back.”

Ben could feel the rising awkwardness about them and so could his mother. She pulled away but instead of turning to address the people about her as he expected she looked up at him with tears in her eyes and a smile on her face.

“Everything has changed Ben. There was a message from Major Ematt. He heard it from Chandrila.” She reached out to hold his hand. There were tears in her eyes and a smile on her face.

“They’re granting you a pardon Ben.”

 

 

Silence spread like a ripple through those gathered. Everyone was stunned. None more so than Ben himself. Rey could feel his disbelief and self hate warring with his desire to step forward into a new life. His eyes slid from his mother’s to her. Rey saw the hope in his eyes at the same time as it burst across their bond. He reigned it in all too quickly though and she reached out to him.

“But…I thought…why? Why would they…” Rey could feel that thought he was hiding in his mind try to free itself from his control but what ever it was he wasn’t ready to say it.

A voice nearby, clear but not invasive.

“Maybe they found out it was you who sent the message to the Resistance that day.”

Rey turned to see Kari Hux with a smug grin on her face. Ben’s mouth dropped open.

“Err..What.”

“You know the one you sent to make sure your mother had time to evacuate D’Qar.” Kari shook her head. “It was too late for that unfortunately but I guess you figured you’d at least give them a fighting chance, right.” She waved her hands, imitating an explosion.

“Um…I thought I coded that so no-one would…Starkiller blew up…how?”

When Ben’s voice faded away Kari grimaced. “Yeah, ummm, Snoke was backing up your communications and your authorization code wasn’t that hard to uncover. Mitaka didn’t want to pass it on because he said you’d know if we did. I figured he was right. We were too picken to say anything I guess.” A note of bitterness entered her voice. “Besides, we were happy Starkiller was gone.”

Ben’s mouth opened and closed then opened again. “Thank you.”

“Thank Mitaka. He made the call on not saying anything.”

Leia looked up at him. “I knew it was you but that at least confirms it.” She turned to the red haired young woman. “I thank you too Kari.”

The silence continued for a moment as others digested this new information. There was a wry laugh, something snapped and then everyone was laughing.

Amidst the laughter Rey and Ben felt Leia’s mood change. A spark of anger.

“What,” Ben said.

“This whole thing. Senator Argueld. The Piracy. Thorceline’s out there. They heard about your pardon. They wanted to kill you before…” her voice cracked. A storm of dark rage, pulsed from Leia. Rey felt it mostly through Ben, who felt the full force of it from his mother.

“Mother. It’s alright.”

The roar of cannon fire through the hangar opening interrupted the moment. Everyone jumped. The red of an exploding ship in space lit up the inside of the hangar. Leia straightened and took in all present with just a glance about.

“We still have work to do. We need to get back to the bridge.”

Leia appointed crew to secure prisoners and help the wounded then headed for the lifts back to the bridge. Rey followed Ben as he traipsed behind his mother. He was such a commanding figure, yet when his mother was around he naturally deferred to her. Or at least he did at the moment.

Rey felt a wave of tiredness wash through her as Ben, herself, her mother, Sanjo, Solia and Kari crowded into the lift with Leia. Chewie had decided to return to the Falcon and cleaning it up after the recent action. When they reached the bridge, Ben was basically holding her up. Rey reached to the force for strength.

_Sleep is good too._

Rey snuggled closer to Ben’s chest, enjoying the feel of his strong body beneath his vest. 

The bridge was tense when they got there. From the viewing deck a ship could be seen burning in space, one section falling away towards the planet. A holo of Thorceline was projected on the upper deck. Poe was standing in front of it with his arms crossed.

“Admiral. Your boarding party has fled. Your fleet is crumbling. The Finalizer is not as dead in space as you supposed and you just lost one of your big guns. Republic ships will be here soon. Surrender and you can spare your life and the lives of your crew.”

Leia strode across the floor and stood next to Poe.

“I have been contacted by Major Ematt. You are nothing more than an escaped criminal Thorceline. Senator Argueld is currently being held in detention on this ship.”

Ben strolled over to the console where Mitaka and Finn were manning the weapons array. He pointed to several locations on the ships schematics up on the screen. Rey wasn’t sure about one. Neither was Finn, who pointed to a nearby location. There was a moment of to and fro until Mitaka butted in and pointed to a location that Rey agreed with from what she could see.

_That’s it._

Ben smiled and nodded. Finn scowled but then sighed and nodded too. In a moment the blue-white streak of the cannon flashed again and Throceline’s ship took a deadly series of hits that weakened and overloaded the shields.

The holoimage of Thorceline on the deck disappeared for a moment and returned less sharp than before.

“I think it’s over Thorceline,” Leia said, using the force to emphasise her words. Thorceline maintained his composure but there was a hint of the wild eyes of a captured animal about him as he snapped a command at one of his officers.

“The last ship is powering down their weapons General,” Poe said.

“What,” Thorceline shrieked.

“Admiral you position is untenable. You cannot go against the Finalizer on you own. Baze Waldren and his mercenaries have fled, as have the Knights of Ren. You must surrender or be destroyed.”

Thorceline’s face was contorted with rage. “They have betrayed me.” His eyes narrowed and his features smoothed and calmed. “This is not the end of the matter.”

“Oh, I think it is,” Leia said and flicked his image off.

There was silence again. Rey could feel the weariness on the bridge. And yet there was joy as well.

Leia sighed and turned to Poe.

Rey looked up at Ben. There were shadows under his eyes and worry lines about his face. His scar was pale as though it was tired of marring his face. He was weary but his eyes held a spark as he gazed at her. She reached up and put a fingertip on the scar where it traversed his jaw.

“I hope it’s not the end of the matter for us,” she said. Ben slid his arm about her shoulders pulling her close as they ignored the dramatic scenes on the other side of the windows.

“I would think it’s just the beginning,” he said. Rey shivered in delight as he leaned closer.

A golden shuffling droid emerged onto the bridge.

“General there is a matter I must discuss with you.”

The droid looked at Rey and Ben for a moment. Rey felt Ben’s emotions surge as he pulled back but then they disappeared when he shielded the link between them. Rey looked at him but he turned his gaze on the planet. He breathed in and gave her a tight smile.

“I don’t think I’m needed here now. I’m tired and I’m going to head to my room.”

Rey frowned and Leia looked at him when she caught the words.

“You have a room,” Leia said. Ben gave her a _look_ they made Rey bite her lip to stop from laughing. Leia waved a hand and mumbled something that sounded like “of course you do.”

Ben looked at Rey and his gaze changed to something with heat and awareness. Those butterflies were back and this time they threatened to fly up her throat and cut off her breath.

“I’m willing to share,” he murmured. Rey found her gaze locked with his as she swayed towards him again. Damnit, if she didn’t breathe she was going to pass out. He looked at her mouth and she tilted her head up to him. She wanted him. She wanted to be…

“General, wait. No. I insist we follow proper procedure with…”

“3PO,” Leia snapped. 3PO’s head swiveled from Ben and Rey to Leia and back again.

“But Princess. I have broken so many protocols already to make this happen.” The droids distress was palpable. Leia looked awkwardly at Ben and Rey then back at 3PO.

“There is still a certain formality that has to be accomplished here first and it can’t be rushed.”

Rey’s mother looked at Leia, who looked flustered.

Rey could feel Ben’s emotions shining out from behind the closed door he held over them.

“Ben what is it? I know you’ve been hiding something. Tell me.” He swallowed and bowed his head and fidgeted. Leia spoke.

“Ben you’ve been pardoned. You don’t have do this. It was a silly suggestion anyway. With everything that’s happened I forgot to tell 3PO not to continue to pursue this.”

Ben’s eyes snapped to his mother.

“It wasn’t a silly suggestion, just not sensible given that….” His gaze turned back to Rey. “Now that I’ve been pardoned it finally makes sense.” Something changed in his look. His eyes softened and he bit the inside of his lip. He looked so vulnerable in that moment Rey wanted to scoop him up and carry him away somewhere that she could keep him safe forever.

Except now he was kneeling. He opened his thoughts to her…and Rey panicked.

“No, no, no.” He froze half way down and wobbled. She reached out and pulled him back up.

“I don’t want you to kneel. You should stand. I…um.”

He chuckled at her odd little fears about making a fuss. Instead he reached for her hand. He cradled it against his chest as was his habit. He also threw an arm about her waist and pulled her to him. Rey was shaking. If he didn’t say it soon she wasn’t going to be conscious when he finally did.

“Rey, will you marry me.” Her heart stopped, somewhere she heard he mother gasp. He'd really said it. He'd really asked her. He grew nervous when she didn't say anything at first. That nervousness began to permeate the room. He was her whole focus though.

“Yes.”

He gasped and closed his eyes. When he opened them again they were soft and joyful, echoing her own feelings. The world tuned out as he caught her mouth in a kiss that would have made 3PO blush if he’d had the capacity. On the other hand, Leia sighed with relief.

Luke appeared next to his sister causing her to jump.

 “Stop that,” she muttered. Luke looked a little bereft but then his eye’s sharpened when he noticed Rey and Ben.

“Did I miss something,” he said. Rey jumped and Ben pulled back. Leia jabbed Luke in the ribs. The siblings just stood silently for a moment looking at each other while they communicated through the force. Luke caught Rey’s eye and lifted an eyebrow. She bit her lip but Luke only smiled at both her and Ben.

"Congratulations," he said.

“Rey, I’m so happy for you,” her mother said at her side, tears making her voice a little wobbly. Rey’s heart warmed as Ben wrapped an arm around them both.

Somewhere in the background she heard 3PO’s satisfied voice.

 “General, you will also be happy to know that I have been granted the authority to perform the service myself and…”

3POs announcement was interrupted by the beep of an incoming emergency signal.

They all felt the subtle pull of the force.

 “General, it’s from Dastron,” Poe said.

Leia huffed with impatience and muttered words to the effect “Would the galaxy not go away for five minutes?” Leia straightened and spoke in an even tone.

“Open the channel,” she said.

A holo image of Mikalas Demos appeared on the upper deck of the bridge. The worry and weariness on his face brought a sombre note to the joy on the bridge.

“General Organa, I need your help.” Before Leia could respond Mikalas gaze shifted to Sanjo and Solia standing nearby. They both stepped forward. Leia gave the family their time before responding to Mikalas request.

“Father.” Solia reached out towards her father’s image. Father and daughter stared at each other. Tears were evident on Mikalas cheeks. No-one spoke for a moment or two as Mikalas joy washed away the worry on his face. Solia was the first to break the silence.

“Father, what’s wrong,” Solia said. Mikalas collected himself, even so his voice was a little uneven.

“The uprising here. Zhark has tried to crack down like the First Order would have. One particular faction has taken up arms. They have help from somewhere, I don’t know.” Mikalas gaze returned Leia.

“We need the Republic’s help to bring some kind of stability. The First Order held too tight a grip and now…”

“I understand Mikalas,” Leia replied. “Reinstating government after the eradication of oppression is never easy.”

Luke stepped forward. “If you wish, perhaps the Jedi can also assist.” Rey felt Ben’s interest rise and a subtle tug from the force on her own senses. The prospect of helping people in real trouble, as Jedi, was close to both their hearts.

“General there’s another signal coming in,” Poe said. “Priority from Chandrila.”

Leia frowned. “Um..ok..bring it up.”

Leia didn’t recognise the figure that appeared other than that they were Loneran.

“General Organa. I am Sadish Vain, the newly appointed senator for Lonera. I trust you are well.”

“Yes, Senator Vain,” Leia said. Rey could feel Ben’s emotions bristle.

“What is it?” Rey said. Ben shook his head but his eyes narrowed and his lips pressed together. Anger darkened the bond between them.

“General, I have been appointed to request that you return to Chandrila.” Senator Vain paused and lifted her head. “The Republic is in desperate need of the wisdom and experience you can provide. The Populist cause…”

Leia held up her hand. “Senator. I must interrupt you there. I have had a priority call from Dastron asking for Republic help. There has been an uprising and the involvement of as yet unknown forces from a powerful, possibly off world third party. I will be heading there as soon as possible to lend assistance.”

Senator Vain scowled. “General. Dastron is not a member of the Republic. The Senate considers your return to Chandrila a priority above all others.”

Leia’s deadpan face would have been a clue to anyone who knew her better.

“Is that an order Senator Vain?” Senator Vain appeared to consider her answer for a moment.

“It is a request that the Senate strongly urges you to abide by.”

Leia nodded. “Understood.” Senator Vain’s image disappeared.

Rey could feel Ben’s ire grow as he watched his mother. Leia looked down at the floor then looked up, a scowl on her face.

“General Organa,” Mikalas was still there and had heard the communication from the Senate. “We need help.”

Leia nodded. For a moment she closed her eyes as though she were reaching deep down into the force. When she opened her eyes there was a peace in her expression.

“General, Major Ematt’s forces are emerging from hyperspace,” Poe said.

“Hail him,” Leia said. Major Ematt’s face was already on screen, having hailed the Finalizer as soon as they emerged from hyperspace.

“General. I am glad to see you. What assistance can I provide?”

“Quite a bit Major. Admiral Thorceline has surrendered. I am authorising you to take custody of the Admiral and his associates that remain above Tyrad.”

Leia was silent again for a moment. “I have just received a call for help from Dastron. They have requested that the Republic and the Jedi help with an uprising backed by unknown agents. I intend to escort the Jedi currently on board to Dastron to provide any assistance needed.” Ben’s eyebrows shot up and Luke coughed and then smothered a grin.

“Very well, General. I will also be happy to provide any assistance you think required.”

Major Ematt’s image disappeared and Leia turned back to Mikalas. “We will be with you as soon as we can Mikalas.”

“Thank you General,” Mikalas said. He turned to Solia and Sanjo. “I will be glad to see the both of you soon.” His image disappeared also.

“Mother, what are you doing?” Ben demanded.

“What I should be doing,” she said.

“Wait a minute. That was basically an order to return to Chandrila,” Ben said.

“Yes…but Senator Vain didn’t specify when I was supposed to arrive. I’m sure they won’t mind if I drop the Zaina Solia off at her home planet along the way.”

A kind of breathless glee spread across the room. Rey felt something young and vulnerable inside Ben whirl and click so it didn’t hurt so much anymore. If she had to describe it, it felt like bacta for the soul as he took in the fact that his mother had just chosen him over the Senate and politics. Rey held him tighter and his hold on her responded in kind as they listened to Leia give the order.

“Commander Dameron, are we ready to go to hyperspace.”

“Yes General.”

“Well then, may the force be with us.”

 

Post scripts

Rey and Ben were married on the way to Dastron and spent their honeymoon working together to help bring peace to Dastron (as well as a side trip to a little cabin on Pal Charin). Ben and Rey became Masters of the New Jedi. Their leadership saw many new Jedi rise who were strong in the force and had a deeper understanding of the balance of the force. Rey in particular made it her life’s work to study the balance of the force throughout the galaxy. Rey became the more visible face of the New Jedi while Ben was the opposite, staying out of the galactic limelight. His reputation as Darth Vader’s grandson and a dark side enforcer of the First Order never left him. Over the years Ben found his reputation could be both a hindrance and a help but never let that stop him from extending either compassion or wrath when he felt the force guiding him. An enigma to the galaxy, he was often viewed as the shadow and fearsome side of his wife, Rey.

Ben and Rey had two children who were also force sensitive, however, one followed the way of the Jedi while the other joined the Knights of Ren.

Gem lead the Knights of Ren for many years, maintaining her quest for greater power in the force. She often sought out darkside artifacts to add to her collection but was also fascinated by aspects of the light, especially as Rey continued to reach out to her sister. Gem and Rey reconciled to a certain extent over the years however their relationship was at a rocky point when Gem died in mysterious circumstances during the second mission to Mustafar.

The second mission the Mustafar was a combined mission between the Jedi and the Knights of Ren. New rumors arose of disappearances that tracked back to Darth Vader’s castle in spite of evidence it remained abandoned. After the First mission to Mustafar Luke and Leia had had the castle sealed and security measures set up to ensure the caste remained off limits. When Finn went missing Gem convinced Rey they should go together to Mustafar. 

The Knights of Ren under Gem continued to be a coherent group, although they took the hint about the balance of the force and sought both dark and light. Unlike the New Jedi who sought the balance in the force, the Knights of Ren aimed to explore the full extent of dark and light. This had a downside in that the darkside often became dominant with some Knights who did not have the emotional stability to avoid it’s pitfalls.

Captain Phasma became known as one of the most fearsome bounty hunters in the galaxy. Captain Phasma and Imri Hallomy recaptured General Hux and Shir Vey on the First Mission to Mustafar. The partnership between Phasma and Imri Hallomy lasted until Phasma died during the second mission to Mustafar. Kari Hux was a third member of their team for some years until she settled down with Finn.

Poe and Imri’s on again/off again relationship was a source of both frustration and amusement to General Organa. Poe eventually became an Admiral in the Republic fleet. BB-8 remained at his side.

Chewbacca returned to his home planet but often went on missions with Leia, Luke and Rey for one thing or another. He was not present on the second mission to Mustafar.

Sanjo became a great Jedi, skilled in both telekinesis and lightsabre combat. He also had an affinity for politics, learning a great deal from the political skills of Leia Organa.

Solia became Empress of Dastron and worked to make Dastron a prosperous world and a strong supporter of the Republic.

Finn studied under Galena Kenobi and Luke Skywalker for many years and was a great strategist, whether it was in war or peace. Finn turned away from the Jedi after the second mission to Mustafar, blaming himself for what happened. Ben and Finn became friends and allies and both Ben and Rey took it hard when Finn left the Jedi. Finn had found happiness with Kari Hux but she was left heartbroken when Finn left. Finn eventually traveled to a remote part of the galaxy where he was sure he would find the answers he sought. His return to the Republic years later was a challenge to both the Jedi and the Knights of Ren.

Leia continued to command the Finalizer for a number of years, often working with Luke, Ben and Rey on Jedi missions. It was probably the most fun she’d ever had. On more than one occasion she incited the ire of the Republic when she engaged in missions not specifically sanctioned by the senate. Her successes were usually glaring enough (starting with Dastron) to turn away their wrath. Political nervousness about her family heritage also never left her. General Organa passed away before the second mission to Mustafar and was mourned throughout the galaxy.

Upon her death C3PO became the personal assistant to Ben and Rey while R2D2 remained with Luke.

Luke Skywalker continued to oversee the spread of the Jedi across the galaxy. Although he was present on the second mission to Mustafar, he felt it was ill advised. Ben always knew it was because of his uncle and his mysterious state in the force that no more people died on Mustafar. Luke never ran a Jedi academy again but continued to travel and look for Jedi law. Sometimes he would stay for a while in one spot while he taught a promising young individual. He would direct them to fellow Jedi to continue their studies and then move on. This way he could spend intensive time with one pupil at a time and ensure they had the best foundation before he sent them on their way into a larger world. No report of his death ever reached the Jedi network across the galaxy.

Down the years though the Jedi would sometimes come across a powerful young Jedi strong in the force and well trained looking for others like them. It was the same story. They’d met an old man who called himself Luke who taught them about the force and how to use it. Old Man Luke was a kind and gentle man who could tell what you were made of down to the fibre of your being. Jedi taught by Old Man Luke were among the greatest Jedi of the galaxy.


End file.
